DTES and the culture of entitlement

Bravo to the letter-writer in today's Sun, who takes a round out of the "culture of entitlement". If you take the issue beyond the immediate question -- how much should teens take responsibility for their own behaviour -- you get the seeds of what we deal with on the Downtown East Side. Much of the trouble there (not in all cases, but a significant number) occurs when people realize that they do bear responsibility for where they are and what they're doing. Our society has never been really big on promoting personal responsibility -- finding someone else to blame is a natural, fleshly approach. So when one comes to that realization, the shock leads people either to repentance -- or downfall, such as drugs or mental illness.

No Jesus - No Justice / Know Jesus - Know Justice
At least one BC school board is taking flak for not including an elective in the 12th grade curriculum: a course in "Social Justice". It was drawn up as part of a settlement between the BC Government and a couple of advocates for an alternative lifestyle, and it's basically a course in making people be nice to those who choose said lifestyle -- carefully cloaked, I understand, with lessons in being nice to people of other races and cultures.

The sad thing is, there is a readily available course in Social Justice already. It's called the Bible. "Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength ... love thy neighbour as thyself."

But that's not politically correct, because Jesus says that, "if you love Me, keep My commandments", and that tends to impinge on some people's lifestyles.

Pity, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, trying to reassure kids that a certain way of living is "basically OK" is a throwback to the 1970s "if it feels good - do it" and "it's your thing: do whatcha wanna do"; why should our schools teach a 1970s attitude in the 21st Century? For another thing, we're now 30 or 40 years down the road, and we've already seen the fruits. It's become clear that a particular lifestyle which advocates keep screaming is "really OK" and we should tolerate it happens to be a major risk factor for a disease for which there is no cure (and the search for which keeps sucking tens of millions of dollars out of the economy every year), and those who practice that lifestyle are some of the most miserable, self-centered and in many cases bigoted people I've ever met.

The other reason why it's a pity is because the beauty of the Love of Christ -- the joy of finding that turnaround in one's life when one chooses to walk in God's ways -- is something everyone needs to know about. The Victory at the Cross is one of the greatest experiences one could ever have, and denying it to anyone because it doesn't fit with someone's fleshly desires is not love ... and certainly is not just.