It has been stated: “Religion is dying out in every land.” One of the most striking evidences of this truth is the abdication of responsibility for one’s own life on the part of increasing numbers of people on broadening scale, motivated by increasing distrust in our national political figures, especially from the top during these uncertain times.
To be no longer in charge of determining one’s destiny is to adapt a passive attitude toward life–an attitude devoid of self-discipline, initiative, volition and/or attainment. The inevitable consequence is a yielding to pressure and conformity to behavioral patterns that hasten society’s downfall. Such conformity is resulting in the absence of high morals and aspirations set forth in the infancy of this pre-ordained (not predestined) model nation by its founding fathers and subsequent administrative orders and institutions. Laxity in, or blatant nonconformity to social, administrative and spiritual laws, once enjoyed by only a privileged few has become so commonplace in today’s society that even spiritual laws are constantly being challenged and changed to fit modern trends and lifestyles.
The development of any nation, state or township is contingent upon the character and initiative of the individuals who compose it, strongly influenced by ancestral and community ties. However the once strong family unit that constituted the bedrock of lifestyle in earlier stages of this new model nation has fallen prey to the “throwaway society” it has become with even the “D” (divorce) word, once synonymous with disgrace, now considered a way of life for any or no reason–for those who even bother to legalize the union in the first place.
Let’s stop and think! What model and moral messages are we sending our successors?
We are admonished in the Baha’i Holy Writings that ideal or model conditions are possible only when men and women have attained a sufficiently high degree of individual, social and spiritual development, the three basics of man’s nature. “To grant full self and/or governmental authority to incompetent people dominated primarily by selfish desires and inexperience in the conduct of public affairs would be disastrous! “There is nothing more dangerous than freedom for those who are not fit to use it wisely,” writes Baha’u’llah in the Book of Aqdas. Yet this disturbing situation is being evidenced daily as children beget children, especially those from no model home environment.
Once viewed as a social problem among the underprivileged, the plague of “societal homelessness” has transcended race, nationality and socio-economic boundaries, running rampant throughout modern-day society. With few real models of sacrificial love, parenthood and family life one generation after another, materialism reigns supreme and is becoming every man, woman and now child for himself! What a sad testimony and disservice for the young couples of today with so few models!
Instead the media in particular champions those who commit the most heinous crimes, the most frauds; design and execute the most convincing deceptive schemes, etc. What mixed messages do we send with such prioritizing? When and how will we realize: “The injury of one shall be considered the injury of all: the comfort of each the comfort of all; the honor of one the honor of all–whether of men or nations! (Investigate!)
