"If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything..."

A couple of nights ago I had some repairmen at my house to fix yet another thing on the foreclosure home I just bought. They were brothers in their late 30's, Hispanic, very knowledgeable and very nice. Since DD was home, and they had some relatives at her school, the talk turned to children and then marriage. Both brothers were explaining that they did not feel the need to ever marry. They said it's just a piece of paper and didn't see the reason. One of them was going through a divorce, and mentioned the only reason he had married his girlfriend was so she could get on his insurance when she got pregnant. Most people under 40 around here (and again, it's a conservative area) feel the same way. And I mentioned that they were Hispanic for a reason, because when I was growing up (central Texas) the Hispanics my age are usually Catholic and very pro-marriage.

Sigh.

It's another failure of my generation in not instilling enough values in our children. And I guess if someone is not religious in a faith such as Christianity or Judaism, then I can understand. Because they would not have that belief if they didn't follow God's commands in the Bible.

Marriage was designed to be a covenant (agreement) between a man and a woman to be faithful to one another. Physically faithful, as in sex. It is why the vows have always mentioned faithfulness. The first marriage was Adam and Eve. Genesis 2 says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they become one flesh," (and they didn't even HAVE parents.) In Matthew, Jesus quotes this verse and says, "Haven't you read, that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh? Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." In Hebrews it says, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." Even the first miracle Jesus performed was turning the water into wine at a wedding.

The entire world is set up on procreating and genealogy through the marriage of a man and a woman. Marriage has become passe, uncool, and meaningless in our current day. Young people just don't see the point, especially if they look up to Hollywood types or pop musicians, who only seem to marry to have a spectacle wedding like Kim Kardashian. They are couples like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who admit that they don't believe in God or marriage. Consequently half the babies born in America these days are to unwed parents, and often those don't even have a committment to one another. This has caused a breakdown in the family, when there is no stability of a mother and father. This country has been erasing the Judeo-Christian ethic, and left us with what we are dealing with now. Lots of young people with no anchors, tossing and turning with each wave in the sea.

A sea that's getting rougher and rougher...

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

Just had a conversation with my 13 year old.....we were discussing how we should LIVE our lives instead of being voyeurs that vicariously live through someone else. Our nation has become a bunch of lazys that come home and switch on the TV and watch someone else live their life i.e. reality shows. We're allowing pop stars and hip hop stars to be our idols. Our schools are dumbed down, and we're going backwards. When I was young, the coolest thing at Disneyland was 'Future Land,', where they had displays about what the future looked like - things being pushed with a button! And phones in cars! And a lot of it happened.
Where are the inventors? Where are the scientists? The most respectable job anyone could think of in the sixties was a scientist who was working on the cure for cancer. Look back at actor interviews. Many of them said, 'well, it's not like I'm working on a cure for cancer.' What do kids aspire to now? Either a top sports player or a pop musician. What about engineers? What about going into space? What about exciting new architecture? We need to kill the television and not let it steal our lives away. Other countries are far surpassing our country in inventions and intelligence.
China is quickly becoming (or has become) the biggest super power. We lead this world for many years, and allowed capitalism to give incentive to the best new thing. But along the way, we got spoiled and lazy. Too many years of indulgence has brought us to this. We're allowing celebutards like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, who've never DONE anything except have a rich dad, be the benchmark of what our kids strive to be. We're watching regular people like Jon & Kate Plus 8, and wasting our time in all of this. Do we want to be participators or spectators?
I want my children to have a life of adventure. I want them to help people. I want them to be leaders. I want them to live their own lives and not through someone else. Especially these amoral fame whores. Besides, fame ruins 99% of people, and I've never seen the 1%. It's nothing to aspire to. We need to go back and emphasize what really counts, what really contributes.
Do we die and meet our Maker, and when He says, 'What did you do?,' answer, 'Watch TV.' Oh, I hope not....
Now get out and LIVE YOUR LIFE!!