Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Follow Your Arrow Wherever It Points

I’m not sure why, but I watched a little bit of the Grammies this week, and I found some of the lyrics really appalling.  The opening number was “Drunk in Love.”  I thought they were singing “Drunken Love,” and it sure looked like that was what they were advocating.  Of course, many of the lyrics in popular songs cannot be understood at all.  Words are screamed and slurred and often incomprehensible. 

One song for which I did understand the lyrics was “Follow Your Arrow Wherever It Points.”  Sadly, that is the mantra of a whole generation of young people who have absolutely no moral compass….no concept of right and wrong.  They believe it is totally legitimate to do whatever they want, and that no one has a right to interfere with their personal freedom.  They don’t even want to discuss the pros and cons of their behavior.

The trouble is that actions do have consequences.  The consequences may not be immediate, but they are inescapable.  The “straight and narrow” may not be attractive, but it at least leads somewhere.  Following the aimless, fickle arrow of one’s current impulses is a prescription for disaster.  It results in lack of education, lack of manners, joblessness, poverty, unwanted babies, and another generation of children raised in confusion with their arrows spinning hither and yon. 

An article in USA Today last week reported that nearly 50% of black men and 40% of white men are arrested for something other than a traffic violation by the time they are 23.  What??!!??   Oh, yeah…they are probably just following their arrows.  “Go directly to jail…do not pass Go.”

It is ironic that in an age when scientific precision causes us to be able to accomplish amazing things, the precision of individual lives is so lacking.  Our compasses no longer point to the magnetic North Pole of absolute truth.  Too many people are telling us that God is dead, truth is relative, and that each individual can define “North” as he/she sees fit.


Pardon me, but it doesn’t work that way!

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