Individualism: Lent XVIII

I do not accept glory from human beings.

 - From John 5

Our "Culture War" is founded upon a desire for people to be noticed; to belong to a crowd; to be "on the right side of history."

I must be right. But for me to be right, you must be wrong.

It has all boiled down to two definitive camps: the voyeurs and the exhibitionists. And some people are in both camps.

Please notice me! Now, let me pry into the most private affairs of your life, that I may pass judgment. 

It's childish. It bespeaks a low form of emotional intelligence. It's what we should expect from the "Me Generation" of the 1980s . . . or the "No Rules" ethic of the 1990s. It's what adults have modeled to children, now into the fourth decade of it.

And it goes even further back than that - - - the Baby Boomers, the children of the Fifties and Sixties, that had it all. They grew up with more options, and more material wealth, than any generation before them.

My University of Michigan professor, in a 1981 political science class about futurism, was right. He was concerned about what would happen once the Baby Boomers were in charge of things.

And my Texas Christian University professor, in a 1985 MBA class about consumer behavior, was also right. He said that the growth of two-income homes, children raised in daycare centers, and the experience of the latchkey child, was an experiment that we could not afford to try out with such aggressiveness, that we had no idea what we were doing.

Did I just blame a lot of good, moral, well-meaning, responsible people - - - people that raised good kids - - - for society's problems? What if I did? What if the two professors were right? Are we mature enough to consider it dispassionately? Is it important enough to check our assumptions?

Materialism. Instant gratification. Me first. Distrust The Other (we all do that, and probably always will).

But what if we downplayed the desire to be noticed by other humans? What if we didn't have to be "liked," whether it's talking about our on-line posts, or belonging to a very large group that affirms us?

What if we put the desire to be accepted by God first, foremost, and only?

I have known a few people in my life, that were so close to not needing to be accepted by others, so that they could follow God's way, unfettered by the influence of people. They were as close as a person can get, to being a true individualist.

Where are the people that are not so needy? The people that need only acceptance by God? The people that take God's word seriously, not to engage in party politics or denominationalism? The people that can balance God's love, with His justice, and His demand for moral purity? Are people in the 2020s - the Decade of Vision, going to be able to handle all of that? Or will they continue erecting great armies of aimless people, angry at all the other aimless people?

Take Lent seriously, and you may find yourself the only person left.