A faith perspective on current events. By: Fr. Steven Foppiano
Making Choices
Making Choices
Life is all about choices, especially in the western world. In poverty stricken countries one might be pressured into a situation by their location, need to provide substance for their families or simply by a lack of opportunity. We are blessed in this country in that we have so many choices. Here, even the poor can, should they have determination, find a way to take advantage of the many opportunities in our nation. Public junior colleges, state universities and the many scholarship and government loans available make education available to the vast majority of Americans. Here education is the key to upward mobility and we have provided many methods of access to that education.
The problem with all of this is that we tend to see our choices almost entirely with the scope of economics. This is not unexpected in a society based on capitalism. Despite all of its critics, no other economics system has proven to be so efficient in rationing out scarce natural resources in the most effective manner. Others have tried to make the economy fairer, but that always comes via interference in the market or central control. Neither central planning nor artificial market restraints can respond quickly enough to changing tastes, changing priorities or even the changes they cause by imposing themselves in the market. Capitalism’s genius is that it applies democracy to the economic system. No one person or committee directs it. It is the combined desires of tens if not hundreds of millions of consumers and investors that plan out the future.
We need to consider how, by allowing capitalism to work its efficiencies, many of us yield to it our sense of morality and right versus wrong. Thus we do not decide if we should do something, but only if we want to do it. When we look at the casinos popping up around our once gambling free state, nobody asks if these are good for our society. The questions almost always center on whether they are good for our economy. We do not question highly violent video games used by out kids because we feel that if they were that bad they would not be available to them, forgetting that capitalism turns a blind eye to the corruptibility of the young.
Our surrender to capitalism has produced several generations of hedonistic Americans that rival those of the so call roaring 20s, enjoyed before the Great Depression. In that time too, “anything went,� and few rules were allowed. If it was profitable it was considered good and this leads to the idea that if it is enjoyable it must be good. Hedonism, the pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses, becomes the overriding factor in our lives.
We live in such a society. Anyone who seeks to put the breaks to anything seen as profitable, good for the individual, fun or sensual is booed down and ignored. The evidence is all around us as is the inevitable result that means more misery for the many because a few sought to serve themselves first. When an entire society turns to serving itself without consideration of values, it is headed down the path of the Romans and other once great civilizations. The end for them always comes first from within.
Today we have parents who decide they are not as happy as they should be and separate without really applying themselves to reconciliation, much as many of them married while looking forward to the pleasures of the union without realizing the responsibilities marriage entails. When gays stand up for equal treatment and the right to marriage, they are thinking of the benefits and of not being discriminated against while few consider that this is meant to be a life time union and, at least at one time, was meant to benefit society by making the family unit stronger for raising children.
We currently have a debate regarding the use of infant stem cells or fertilized eggs for research of diseases. One side says that this is akin to the taking of a life as life begins with this fertilization and the development of the cells, while others say it is just a procedure. The latter is winning and will win the argument because they are putting the individual first. Many of us think that we might someday be saved from a horrible disease and many think that somehow we can extend our lives through such gene therapy. There is absolutely no evidence that infant stem cells can cure anything. We have had great success with adult stem cells and with cells from the placenta, but absolutely none regarding infant stem cells. Here even the capitalist system has voted no and investors are unwilling to put their money into more infant stem cell research, but our hedonistic society is unwilling to let even a potential source of “the good life� not be investigated and so we vote government money to finance such research. The morality of the issue is subjected to the overwhelming power of the potential of hedonistic gains by a selfish society.
Such thinking is already affecting our society. We are barely replacing ourselves while much of Europe is actually declining in population. This is because, in general, children are no longer seen as gifts and blessings. Instead they are often seen as liabilities and obstacles to the good life. One or two children might allow us to feel we are leaving a legacy while not hindering too much our life style. Have three, four or more kids and you are likely to be degraded by others for being selfish or lacking control, when in fact these are the most generous parents of all and to raise such a family they must have great control over their hedonistic impulses.
For a Christian this is seen as a battle between good and evil. Our original sin is our propensity to put ourselves first in all things, even before God. It has, is and will always be our struggle to learn to live, not for ourselves, but to live for others. This is the message of Jesus Christ, that we must “die to ourselves� to find “true life.� Jesus tries to communicate to us that selfish living does not equal a good life or even happiness. It is living lives of love that allow us to share with others and reach out and help others that will bring on the good life. If you think this is foolish, consider how many of us spend long hours at work, long hours commuting to a better paying job and then commuting back, live in nice houses and drive nice cars, yet don’t know our neighbors, are often near strangers to our children and are headed for a divorce with their wife. Does this sound like the good life?
The point of all this is that we need to make good choices in our lives. Children grow quickly. We have to choose if we will be with them as they grow or will we be chasing a bigger buck to get a bigger house and a nicer car. Do you think your child will look lovingly back on the type of house they lived in, or the type of home their parents and siblings made for them? How many children and spouses will praise mom or day for working long hours and being absent from the home? Many children of poorer families will love their parents all their lives, not because they made lots of money but because they were truly a part of their forming years and were there when needed.
Life passes quickly. When you get to the end of yours, what will be your memories? Who will be at your bedside? Who will cry at your death? It won’t be your boss and it won’t be your credit card company. And if you are all alone … whose fault is that? What seeds are you planting that will grow into a loving network of family and friends to guide you in your old age? Yes, your money might buy you good health insurance and a nice bed but what if you are alone and only visited by those paid to do so? That is the saddest choice of all and it is a choice we make everyday when we set our priorities.
How will you choose to spend this day?