Civility, Morals, Courtesy; Right from Wrong?

The older I get [44], the less tolerant I am of lies, boorish, snotty and inconsiderate behavior. As a father and step-father of four teenagers and a nearly 21 year old, I see from them and their age group plenty of self-focused actions that often appear toddler. I guess toddler equals adolescent nowadays. There is an inability to close cabinets, clean dishes, or even pick them up and put them near the dishwasher, wrappers and garbage are left all over the planet. Have you ever seen a teenager's bathroom toilet? Dear God! The piles of clothes and clutter all over their bedrooms are comparatively nothing. Rinse and smash the recyclables is way too mentally challenging. A friend of mine says he will no longer hire anyone under 30. "They are just too lazy and selfish."

We should return to the times where teenage meant; now you need to act like an adult, you get a job and learn some responsibility instead of figuring out how to beat the next level of a video game or text message people while you ignore the ones you are with. Parenting is difficult; especially, when the examples around are less than stellar. Why should we expect decent behavior from anyone when we have created a society that caters to adolescent insanity? 'It's all about me' has become a creed instead of a need for therapy. As a former youth pastor, I failed miserably because I could not 'fix' all the snotty brats in 1-2 hours per week. So, it was my fault for not straightening them out and making them want to keep coming to church. OOPS! I only told them the truth and they didn't want to hear it because I disagreed with their self-focused lives where they thought all their problems were adult's faults. Parents, teachers, bosses were at fault...but never them.

Look at the foolish actions of nearly everyone on reality shows. I refuse to watch any of them. Jon and Kate. Who couldn't see that one coming? Controlling, manipulative, angry woman drives away passive aggressive sissy man. Shocking! Nowhere do we find any people worth emulating. Oh, wait. The family with 18 kids. They are great role models, mostly because they are real followers of Jesus, not people who play church. Crazy to have that many kids. But their life reveals all things good. Is there ever anything negative on that show? Compare that with all the others. MTV is 'hell' comparatively. What a bunch of jerks are on that 'cool' network! Put those freaks in jail!

How about our celebrated athletes? Late last week I saw Serena Williams stare menacingly at a line judge for calling a foot fault on her tennis serve. Then I hear that she lost the semi-finals match due to an outburst after the same [bad] call that lead to a penalty on match point. She threatened to shove a ball down the line judge's throat and then plays it off as acceptable competitive passion. Good Morning America put her on Tuesday AM to 'apologize' and pump her book. Her passion for sports and her past painful experiences excuse her extreme outbursts. Right? What a farce!

Michael Jordan's hall of fame acceptance speech revealed an overly competitive, insecure personality still trying to prove himself. As a huge fan, I lost nearly all my respect for him as a person. He was a fantastic player. He is a jerk as a human. Roger Federer just whined about some rules and judging in his US Open finals match. Later in the same match he tried to get away with same thing.

Win-at-all-costs is celebrated in sports. If you win it is OK. Jordan once replied to a coach who thought he was being selfish, "You are right. There is no 'I' in 'team' but there is in 'win.'"

Let's move back to other celebrities. Kanye West. Need I say more? How about--too much Hennessy? Eminem finally lost his voice when he showed how immature he was. It has been years since he has been allowed to speak his opinions. Hopefully that happens to Kanye today; despite his lame attempts at apologies and excuses because of his mom dying in 2007. In another amazingly idiotic act he jumps on stage during an award acceptance speech to complain that someone else should have won. He takes the microphone from the young white girl to complain that an African-American young woman should have won. He needs to go away. In my life, I have never seen anyone do more to undermine race-relations and removing prejudice than this foolish man who needed more spankings as a child. There is plenty of great stuff already written to show his lunacy.

Beyonce and Taylor Swift were very classy handling KW's nutso act well. Someone has taught them manners and c0uth.

Federer just lost in five sets after being up 2 sets to 1. His collapse is complete as an upstart 20 year old beats the 28 year old superstar, grandslam champ with 110 mph forehands that were as blistering [the same speed] as his somewhat relaxed serves. Good job Juan Martin del Potro.

Many recent shows have addressed these same issues.

We cannot change the soul of people with simplistic views. Behavior modification does not rescue people from sin, rebellion and selfishness. Right from wrong is not determined by culture and current society's thoughts; even though, that is what the media promotes regularly. Without a direct act from God and our own submission to Him we will be as foolish as the early Israelite's in the book of Judges where "every man did that which was right in their own eyes." Now look at what a bunch of fools we look like. Are we right? Is God stupid because He does not do what we want or live by our morals? What if we humans are wrong?