Reaping What We Have Sown

      Little Johnny used to hang out at the corner market. The owner didn’t know what Johnny’s problem was, but the other boys would constantly tease him. They would always comment that he was two bricks short of a full load, or he really wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. To prove it, they would often offer Johnny the choice between a dime and a nickel. Johnny would always take the nickel and they concluded he thought it was worth more because it was bigger, and would laugh at him. One day, after Johnny grabbed the nickel, the store owner took him aside and said, “Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. Are you grabbing the nickel just because it’s bigger or what?” Slowly, Johnny turned to the man and with a big grin on his face he said, “Well, if I take the dime, they’ll stop doing it, and so far I’ve saved $20.00.”

      It used to be the weirdest kid in school wore blue jeans, engineer boots and a white t-shirt; had a duck-tail haircut, smoked cigarettes and sported a leather jacket in the cold weather. In high school, I can remember we had our jocks and geeks (not computer but scholastic), genius’s and those, like me, who didn’t have a clue what algebra was all about or why there has to be adjectives and adverbs to structure a comprehensive, compound sentence, impressive enough to gain the approval of a 90-year-old English teacher who continually compared you to your siblings whom she had taught in earlier years. We had our friends and some of us had to deal with bullies in the best way we knew how, mainly avoiding contact at all cost. I guess you could say I survived the travails of high school with common-sense navigation and blending into the woodwork as often as needed. The same tactics have their advantages to this very day.

      [Galatians 6: 1-10] So, when did we cross over the line from normal, trying to fit in, testosterone aggression, to, life means nothing, revenge? I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want any prayer in our schools. And we said, “Okay.” Then someone said you better not read or teach from the Bible in school, the Bible that says, “…thou shall not kill; thou shall not steal; and love your neighbors as your self.” And we said, “Okay.” Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, “Okay.” Then someone said that our educators could no longer discipline our children for fear of bad publicity or lawsuits. Let’s let our daughters get abortions without our knowledge if they want and we all know boys will be boys, so, let’s let the schools hand out all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and make a law that says it’s no business of the parents. The entertainment industry said, let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex. And let’s record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide and satanic themes. And let’s make video games that promote revengeful solutions to life such as murder and mass destruction. And we said, “It’s only entertainment and it has no adverse effect; nobody takes it seriously anyway, it’s just a story”. Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience; why they don’t know right from wrong; and why it doesn't bother them to kill complete strangers, classmates, or even themselves. Undoubtedly, if we thought about it long enough, we would figure it out. Are we not reaping what we have sown?