How Low Can We Go?
I learned about "freaking" today. Also known as "freak dancing," the practice involves a female placing her (clothed) rear end against a male's pants zipper and vigorously shaking her bootie. And, unfortunately, it involved some teenagers at one of our local high schools. (Yet another excellent reason for homeschooling!)
What I thought most when I heard of this behavior was, "How low can we go?" We live in a culture that requires greater and greater audacity to shock. What is the next step following simulated sex on the dance floor? Actual sex? And if it gets to that point, what then? Rape on the dance floor?
The power and strength of Western Civilization comes from virtues like temperance, chastity, fortitude, and prudence, to name a few. Whenever we have veered from these virtues, we have become less human, more animal. If we want to maintain our humanity, our focus needs to become "How high can we go?" We need to realize that God's laws free us to become the best that we can be rather than animals feeding at the trough of self-indulgent hedonism, a frenzy that never satisfies and leads people farther and farther away from their true happiness.
Comments
You think that was low, get a load of this...
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/news/features/15589/?imw=Y
Posted by: Betsy Cuthbertson | February 8, 2006 6:18 PM
I'm going to free-associate here for a minute and see where it goes. This reminds me very much of the mid 1970's when I was involved with a theater group in Dayton, Ohio. Some of the kids there were supposedly lesbian or gay or bisexual, and I always felt that they were mostly trying to get attention in a way that felt safe to them. Nearly all of them came from broken homes. The children in this article remind me of those times because, like those acquaintances of long ago, they seem so lost. Obviously, even for those in intact homes, no parent has ever really cared enough to show them what love really is, nor the proper meaning for sexuality.
So yes, you're right, this is even lower, and it is so much sadder. The freak dancing story made me angry, and this one makes me want to weep for these lost souls with no one to guide them.
I'll say a prayer for them all.
Posted by: Lisa Roberts | February 8, 2006 8:30 PM
What worries me about this trend is that Stuyvesant High is one of the "crown jewels" of NYC public education. After the Bronx High School of Science, it has some of the brightest kids in the city. They do seem alienated in a way but they also are devoid of any kind of a standard or norm. Unlike the youth of my decrepit day, they aren't actually rebelling against anything since no one cares what they do one way or the other. Obviously, as you say, their parents don't care because they must have seen this article! Talk about your kids embarrassing you! I also think this story points to how important it is for society to set some norms for sexual expression. As we see, when it becomes socially acceptable for boys and girls to "switch teams" as it were, they will. Sexuality is pretty fluid at that age and all this experimentation will lead to more identity confusion rather than less. Just because some kid might have a crush on a same-sex teacher or friend does NOT mean he/she is gay! Acting on these feelings probably propels some people into a lifestyle they might never have bothered with later on. Not to be conspiratorial, but I think it is part of the gay agenda (whatever that is) to encourage this kind of experimentation as a way of normalizing the behavior. Blah, blah, blah...I do go on. You are right, we can only pray.
Posted by: Betsy Cuthbertson | February 9, 2006 4:58 PM
Prayer is a powerful tool. It is also important to make sure we express outrage and sorrow at such blatant behavior. I think things get worse at a faster pace when people are afraid to "call a spade a spade" because it's not "tolerant."
I am upset with the school (and the parents). Why are kids allowed to "pet", as the article called it, in school? There should be standards of decorous behavior at school, and this so-called "gem" of NYC public education seems to have abdicated its responsibility. When neither the schools nor the parents enforce standards, what do we expect? It's basically hippie "free love" for the Naughties. (My term for the 2000's. We had the 90's and now the 00's, or Naughties.)
Yet another reason to homeschool!
Posted by: Lisa Roberts | February 9, 2006 8:28 PM
Living in NY, most of the kids have a lot of unsupervised time alone in their apartments. I'm sure all this is going on at home, too. Perhaps the parents think it is better for their kids to be "safe" - lots of condoms and sex ed - than to try and control their behavior. I'm also sure there is a bit of the hypocrite factor. "Well, I had lots of free sex when I was young, how can I say they shouldn't?" I think this article stirred up some real trouble for the principal as a lot of the conservative talk radio shows picked up the story. We'll see what happens to him. As for home schooling, I wish I could do it with Victoria. We are very happy with her school - smallish, Christian - but I am missing so much of her life and she is growing up so fast. Unfortunately, Victoria does not like to take instruction from either one of us and responds much better to stranger teaching. Even trying to help her with the piano lesson is a big struggle. I know I could do a good job, especially since there are so many good resources out there now, but it might not be the best thing for her. I've got a very social kid and being an only factors in there as well. God bless your endeavors in this arena.
Posted by: Betsy Cuthbertson | February 10, 2006 7:21 AM