F. David Shelene

"Don’t sweat it man." "Who cares." "Better him than me." "Make love, not war." "If it feels good, do it." "Sex, drugs and rock & roll." "Tolerate others." "God is dead."

Do you remember those sayings? Some are from the 60s, some later.

All of them are coming back to haunt us now in this new century.

Our country is on a backward slide to oblivion and there seems to be almost no one saying stop. There seems to be a continuing movement in our country to see how far we can go without being told to stop. Just like little children, we are pushing the limits all the time, and when we don’t hear anyone say ‘STOP’, we push a little farther.

The 60s was an interesting time to be alive, and for many a very scary time to be alive.

Some Americans, such as my Uncle, U. S. Army Sargent Porter Ray Cain did not make it past the Viet Nam war. He died a hero along, (or across,) the Cambodian border while serving with the First Infantry Division, ‘The Bid Red One’.

Some didn’t make it past the anti-war, race, and political riots.

Some of us did make it though. We have lived through the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Now in the two thousands, we can look back and see an enormous difference in the way we, as a country, were then, and the way we are now.

In many ways, we have let Hollywood set the pace for morals. Admittedly, it was a little dumb to have married couples sleeping in separate beds on TV shows of the 50s and 60s.

Look how far we have advanced. We now have both couples and people of the same sex sleeping together on TV.

In the 60s, if you heard a swear word on TV, you were shocked. Now, in the New Age, we can say almost anything we want, anywhere we want, not just on TV. In 2003, when a car pulls along side you at a traffic light, you may have to roll your window up to keep the filth out of your little children’s ears.

If you criticize the way anyone lives today, you are told to be tolerant. We are the most tolerant people the world has ever known. You can do almost anything you want in today’s America. You can do anything; except criticize someone who may be living a way our founding fathers would have been shocked to see. People in our New Age World aren’t very tolerant of someone who criticizes. That, of course, is because we live by the 60s doctrine, "If it feels good, do it."

In the 60s, when the children went to school, we felt as if they were getting a good education. Now, they bring forms home for parents to sign, saying they will be permitted to watch a movie in class. The forms are necessary because it is an ‘R’ rated movie and the content may not be appropriate for children. In fact, they would not even be allowed into the theater if it were showing there.

Why worry about it? The MTV generation has seen it all. They know how to live. You need to go party every night, see how much you can drink, see how much sex you can have before you get married. Wait a minute, marriage is also something we don’t need anymore. According to MTV and Hollywood, we can live with whom ever we want for as long as we want.

My point is this. This country has certainly had better morals than those in the 60s. But, for the sake of argument, on a scale of 1 to 100, 100 being the highest morality rating, lets say the 60s are 100. Draw a line to where we are today. No matter where you rate us, the line is sloping downward. I rate us a 50. If you continue with that say trend, and sloping line, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where our country is going to end up.

Some laugh at people who go to church. Some laugh at people who teach their children right from wrong, and who say "NO" to thing such as MTV and movies with questionable content.

My question is this. If you are in a strange city in America, and a car full of people stops beside you at a traffic light, do you feel safer with a car load of people going to church, or a car load of people who have such foul MTV style language coming from their car, you have to shield your children’s ears?

There are no perfect people. The churchgoers have their problems too. But at least they are trying to do better.

There is still RIGHT and WRONG no matter how hard we try to hide from it. Our country had better take a lesson from the people going to church and try to do better, before we get to the bottom of that morality slide we are in. Doom for our nation lies at the bottom of that slide. We will end up like so many other dead countries who have said, "If it feels good, do it."