Buckle up, this is gonna be fun.
Email from a friend/email relationship:
Cultural diversity has made it so we can't even safely go to the mall anymore. Not culture in a race sense; culture as in the shared rules and values of a group. It used to be that society had a set of rule and standards that we expected all people to live by, a culture; in our quest to make all people feel accepted, we lowered our standards and expectations to what we have in place now. By lowering our standards, we’ve enabled people to act and live their lives in a way that would have made them outcast years ago. There are now two distinctly different groups of people in this country; the people that live by the laws, know right from wrong, attempt to do what is right and be self sufficient and the others. This is not a race, religion or political party issue, it’s a cultural issue. We’ve lowered our standards to make the culture fit the people rather than make the people fit the culture. We’ve made it acceptable to have babies out of wedlock and live for generations on welfare. We’ve made it acceptable to use language in public that would have gotten my my mouth slapped as a child. We’ve made it acceptable for teens to drink and use drugs. We’ve made it acceptable to have thousands of dollars worth of tattoos, smoke and drink away hundreds of dollars a month, have a $100 manicure, carry a $500 purse and expect the government to pay for food and healthcare. We’ve lowered our definition of what it means to be a “decent American” in the name of cultural diversity.
I immediately respond:
Hey, talk about ESP. Belle and I we're returning home from a short mission gathering in Moreno Valley. We had talked about the same thing that you mention in your note today. It used to be that the core of our culture was "fair play." The soul of the rules and regulations was the non-negotiable conscience of trust in the people with whom we lived and helped and competed. That core cultural virtue has been eroded considerably since I was young. As a society we seem to be living according to the attitude that I do what I can get away with, no matter what the consequences to you are. All that matters is that I win and you lose, no matter what.
What you fail to mention is the pain and the disdain that the super rich inflict on the country. The gutting of the country's income by favoring the ultra rich with tax cuts that over burden the hard working "middle class." The organized, legal bribery system that allows our law makers to take millions upon millions by special interests lobbyists who buy favor for the rich at the pain of the rest.
This system of "government" makes a total mockery of our elections. No wonder those on the bottom rungs have no shame...they are but imitating the shameless cannibals at the top.
Being who we are, we can compare our present situation with the one that is described in the Gospels. The Torah had been used and abused for so long and by so many that the Pharisees, the strict fundamentalists were warping the Law as much as the slackers. Jesus came along and threw fuel on the fire by injecting the common sense of Love into the mix. This infuriated the Hard Right as well as the Hard Left and it caused havoc in the culture.
Jesus was not the first culture "tweeker" between Moses and Jesus. Think of the prophets; think of David; think of John the Baptist.
Culture is not the synonym of behavior. It is the soul of behavior. The culture of the USA is indeed different now than it was 100 years ago. It is different now than it was 50 years ago. Think of the way the Transcontinental Railroad was built. If you don't have a clear idea about it, consider that it is not something about which we are not particularly proud, so we don't glorify it. It surely is overshadowed by the way the Interstate Highways were put into place. Oh, I almost forgot NASA.
While I'm at it, our soul gave us the Marshall Plan, the Peace Corps, the reconstruction of Western Europe and of Japan, not to mention South Korea and VietNam.
Our culture was never based on an external symbol. It was based on an "all for one, one for all" fair play conscience. We don't have a Temple; We don't have an Emperor. We have one another. We live and let live in the attitude that good fences make good neighbors.
The neighbors are so good that they protect one another in time of need. No questions asked. No excuses needed.
That, John, is what is significantly eroded. As I have stated before, this erosion, if it continues at this pace, will spell the end of this republic within the next 75 years. I say that because no nation can live without a moral soul.
The miracle of the Jews is that they remain faithful to God. Catholicism is on track to stay alive. But, the 10,000 years of Judaism far overshadows Catholicism/Christianity. These Spiritual realities continue in God's presence. Nations are born and die from age to age, era to era.
On a lighter note (??) Maybe it's time for a Sodom and Gomorrah repeat?
I go to bed and I start reviewing my "good old days."
- My paternal grandmother is a widow
- My maternal grandfather has one hand - the non-dominant left
- My father never knew a day without crushing back pain
- My father's 25 year old sister dies from a bungling doctor's incompetence while her husband is in Europe struggling through WWII.
- Dad overruled Mom and let me accompany him to the funeral home (I was 5)
- Dad's youngest sister marries a divorced drunkard with whom she has 5 children
before he dies and is refused a Catholic funeral because he is a public sinner. My aunt was his 2 or 3 wife.
- This aunt never found time to work and counted on all kinds of aid to get by
- My first job was washing floors for old people on Saturday mornings (I was 12)
- I went to school at 5 years and 9 months. I knew very little English.
- The school was a parrochial school, French language in the Morning, English PM
- Every national community had a specific church; French, Polish, Italian, Irish...
- If a store didn't hire French speakers, we would not patronize it ... except the little market on the corner owned and operated by a polish family.
- My mother used to say, "shit", "damn", and "hell", but never said a bad word in French. English was for swearing, French was for prayer and civility.
- I had a cousin who was a drunk. He had a sister who was a floozie.
- I only carried nespapers as a favor to a friend for about 1 month when he went to Canada once time. There was one house where the lady would always pay me with her bosoms very daringly exposed.
- There was also one customer who couldn't stand French kids who would let his dog loose. Yeah, I got bit. My father ripped this guy in English.
- My father who was a high authority at a manufacturing company hired a very competent African American. The senior partner of the company told my father that the African American had to leave - like NOW - or else. My father was emotional when he told me the story.
- In the 50's when there was a tsunami of Puerto Ricans coming into our corner of Massachusetts, I lived a first degree witness of raw, vicious hatred out of discrimination against the Puerto Ricans, even by Catholics who, in their own right, could hardly speak English. I worked with some of them and took the opportunity to learn my first words of Spanish.
I never smoked, but I did swear a lot, in two languages, did some co-ed skinny dippin', drove dad's car to some God awful places, set fire to one of the minor dumping grounds in our town, cut some clothes lines on "Cabbage Night", and that was all before I started doing adult things!
Yep, the "Good Ol' Days!" I have more. After all, I'm just in the mid 50's here. You don't want me to bore you with the 60's and 70's and 80's, I am sure.
My closing remark will simply be to remind you all that a very wise person once said "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
After more than 1,450 words, I don't have to remind you to remember that there is to be "No Crying at my Funeral."
