"What matters isn't how a person's inner life finally puts together the alphabet and numbers of his outer life. What really matters is whether he uses the alphabet for the declaration of a war or the description of a sunrise--his numbers for the final count at Buchenwald or the specifics of a brand-new bridge." - Fred Rogers
While visiting my daughter's family, I saw our two year old grandson pick up his dad's cell phone, found the game he wanted, bring it up and start playing. I was shocked. I am 64 and have trouble turning on my cell let along playing games. What this showed me was that children, young children live in a digital age and are very savvy on how things work. This is exciting to know they can handle new technology early, but also frightening when you think of what dangers there are out there.
As with all things, there are good and evil consequences to what we do. The internet has the ability to help us to learn, teach, grow and prosper in life. It also holds the weapons that can destroy, harm and imprison us. The same source that gives us knowledge, history, poetry, art and music can provide us with pornography, gambling, child abuse and lessons on how to make bombs. Good and evil run over the internet and it is our responsibility to sort them out.
The world was shocked and sickened when on December 14, 2012, 20 years old Adam Lanza went into the Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot to death 20 children and 6 adults after killing his mother earlier that day. There have been many theories as to why this happened. No one will really know since Lanza also killed himself in the event. One thing is for sure, Adam Lanza had some deep problems and this was in no way normal nor was it excusable.
Another fact that came from the investigation was that Adam Lanza was addicted to violent video games. Have you ever seem some of the games that you can find on line. Not only do they promote violence and cruelty, but you get all the graphic pictures with it. This causes a breakdown of those human reflects that cause us to avoid such thing. Emotions like shame, disgust, horror, repulsion and fear, all become hard in time to the evil they were created to keep us from. We become numb and cold to inhumanity and find killing as just a game we can all play. To Adam Lanza, killing children was as emotionally meaningful as was playing a pretend game online.
For many people, online games, even the very violent ones, are nothing but fun and a challenge. They play them and they do not become mass murders nor do they become mentally ill. However, they do become cold and unaffected by violence over time. The same thing happens to those who watch the news all the time. We find that the most terrible of tragedies may upset and frighten us, but they really do not shock us anymore. We watch death and destruction on TV, in movies, over the news and online so much that it is just a part of our lives. It was never meant to be that way. In the end, we have paid a heavy price for our curiosity.
"Responsibility is the price for freedom." said American writer, Elbert Hubbard. We have freedom to post whatever we wish, to play the games we wish and to seek out what we wish. However, that does not mean that we should. Just because you have the right to do something does not make it the right thing to do. There is a price to be paid for all our actions. Everything has a consequence to it. Our problem has not been that we have the availability to access evil things, it is that we have forgotten we have the responsibility not to.
There is a great power in the universe and that power is called choice. It is always there and always belongs to you. No one can force you to choose and no one can take choice from you. You must learn to make good choices and stay with that. It is as easy as knowing right from wrong. Knowing what is good for you and what is not. Again, just because something is there and available to you does not mean it is okay to take part in. You must choose what you will do and not do before the time comes to exercise that choice.
This ability to make good and right choices is what we must all teach our children. The ability to choose right for a child is not always clear to them. They may know that something is wrong and that they should not do it, but the ability to make a good choice is not strong. We must help them to understand that something are okay and open to them but for those that are not, there will be consequences if they step over the line.
As adults, we also have a responsibility to help protect all children and to teach all the power of good choices. How do we do that? By being an example and showing them what good choices are. Someone once said, "Children are great imitators, so give them something great to imitate". When you post pictures of emulated animals, aborted babies, gun fights and bits from slasher movies, you begin to harden young hearts to the horrors that, as children, they should never be subjected to see.
Think about this when you post things on a social media site. Look over Facebook and you soon see photos, cartoons, jokes and comments that no child should have to read. Say what you want about not allowing children on Facebook, reality is they have access and it is up to the adults - you and me - to make it a safe place for them to wander into. By posting what you want just because you can, puts others in harm's way for nothing but selfish reasons. Good manners means taking the responsibility to make things right. It is not doing wrong because others do it or because you have the "right" to.
American writer Robert A. Heinlein put the meaning of freedom in a proper light when he wrote, "I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." You too are free because you are morally responsible for everything you do - everything.
Next time you post a photo, make a comment, be it a political statement or philosophical one, share a joke or lose your temper, remember that a child may be out there. Ask yourself, "Would I want my child or grandchild to see or read this?" If the answer is no - don't post it. If it is too nasty for a child it is most likely too nasty for an adult as well. If you want to cause a reaction in others then be responsible and do the right thing. It never ceases to shock and amaze.
There is nothing more distasteful to me than to go online first thing in the morning and be greeted with the pictures of an aborted baby or a dog that had its fur burned off it. I am proud to say that I am pro-life all the way. I believe it is a crime that we as a nation have murdered over five million babies, however, I do not believe it is helpful or necessary to post pictures of these poor children online. It is disrespectful to them and does nothing but harden our emotions to the tragedy even more.
So much of the violence and crime that infects our society goes not just unnoticed but accepted simply because we have been hardened to the shock of it all. We see so much death and destruction that we have allowed it to be part of our everyday life. This is extremely dangerous and harmful to us as a people. How did we come to see immorality as just part of how we live rather than a breakdown of our whole social structure?
Look at what has happened in this country in the past fifty years. Even more important, notice how we respond to it all. Yes we know that the killing of over five million unborn children is wrong, but are we shocked by it? We really are not, rather we are comfortable enough to post pictures of it on social media. We see the breakdown of social morals and crime as something to declare publicly and with no shame attached.
I realize that we are not going to reverse this lack of feeling, however, good manners will allow us to do what is right rather than complain about what is wrong. If it is so easy for us to post those things that are destructive, violent and wrong, why can't we start to post what builds other us, encourages, inspires and show what is good and right? It is all a matter of choice and doing what is right.
Take the time to pay attention to the world around you. What can you do to make it better? It is not in complaining and adding to the hate and bitterness. You can be a positive force in the world you live it. You, as an individual, can make a great difference in the lives of the people you come in contact with. People need to be shown what it is like to be a person of kindness, honor, dignity and goodness. By living as a success-minded person you can be that example. All it takes is to do your best, have good manners, love God, discover the unknown and change your world.
To read more from John Patrick Hickey or to get his books, training and book him to speak to your church, business or group, visit our website at http://www.johnpatrickhickey.com, or http://www.growthcenter.net
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