Have you ever noticed that when society becomes uncomfortable with something, they mock it out of existence? They laugh at it until those who respect it are ashamed to speak about it in public.
For example, just this morning I heard a TV personality tell a man, “You’re too pure for me.” The audience applauded the remark, and cheered with their applause. Purity was being mocked. It has repeatedly been mocked. And as we have mocked it, we have pushed it further and further toward the brink of destruction. But purity is only one of myriad things society is trying to mock out of existence.
Mocking character out of existence is a favorite pastime.
Many teachers who are entrusted with character education present it to students, but outside the classroom, they laugh at character. They laugh at it in both their conversation and their actions.
Slip Into a secondary classroom on Friday, and listen to the teacher make a great show of teaching responsibility. He discusses the seventh chapter of Date with Responsibility, and presses its lesson on the teenagers. He insists that students complete work on time, and to the utmost of their ability. He insists that they take responsibility for being in class on time; doing homework on time and without assistance. But after class, the teacher hurries away. He has plans for the weekend. He doesn’t care that he has not prepared Monday’s lessons, or graded the papers. That teacher is mocking character out of existence with his actions.
In a primary classroom, watch and listen as a teacher tells her young students that compassion is very, very important. She reads the story of Pandora Puppy’s Caring Circle, and gives examples of how students should care for one another. She urges them to care for other classmates, for family members, and for anyone who has a need. Later that day, the teacher adamantly refuses to go to the grocery store for her mother, who does not drive. Let her take the bus! Let her get a cab! The teacher has a lot of work to do, she says, and her mother is retired. She should get her own groceries. That teacher is mocking character out of existence with her actions.
Recently, when the “Character Builder Newsletter” was changed to a double opt-in system to avoid any appearance of spamming, subscribers were asked to take 2 simple steps to ensure they would continue to get the newsletter. Most had no difficulty doing this, and were soon properly subscribed. One teacher, however, wrote asking to be opted in manually without taking the steps. When told that no one could legally do it for her, she responded by saying that if no one would do it for her, she would give up her subscription. She stated that she liked the “Character Builder Newsletter” and had regularly shared it with other teachers, but “I can’t be bothered” to complete the necessary steps. In one brief paragraph, she claimed that character is important, but not so important that she should take responsibility for continuing her newsletter subscription. That teacher is mocking character out of existence with her actions
Mocking character out of existence. Laughing character out of existence. It’s being done everyday. Have you ever heard a colleague or friend laugh at someone who insists on honesty? How foolish, right? Why, everyone knows a white lie or a little fib is nothing. Honesty is for big issues, isn’t it? If we laugh at it long enough, and make the terms “little fib” and “white lie” cover more and more dishonesty, we can soon be free of the demands of this character trait. We can laugh it out of existence.
For many people, killing military men and women by sending them to war is immoral, but killing babies in the womb is moral. They ridicule those who say abortion displays a character flaw, a total lack of compassion, honesty, and all that is decent. The same men and women who cry out against war want to laugh character out of existence when it comes to abortion.
Mocking character out of existence is popular, but it is perilous for society, and will spell its demise.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?