Accepting the Unacceptable

I would never say that I grew up "sheltered".  In fact there are dark facts about my past that would shock some people who think they know me well!  I was, however, raised a Christian.  My family went to church regularly, I participated in Sunday School, Youth Group, and mission trips.  My family experienced several major obstacles, and sometimes it was hard to believe that God's plan in our family made any sense at all.  I never stopped believing he was there though.  I still believe he is there, and I am finally at a place in my life, where I feel like I know him.  I feel like I can talk to him, and I feel like he listens!  This didn't happen over night though.  There have been many many years of confusion, and rebellion.
I do not consider myself old.  I am 28, and will be 29 in March.  However, a LOT has changed in my 28 years of living.  What was considered to be socially "acceptable" when I was 14 has changed more than I can really even comprehend.  Being homosexual was not something anyone discussed.  I have no clue how many gay friends I had, because no one talked about it.  No one questioned me for thinking homosexuality was wrong, because everyone thought it was "different".  We didn't have the internet at our house, so you either had to call your friends, or go to their house!  There was not texting, because cell phones were too new.  It cost way too much to text, so texting while driving wasn't something my parents had to worry about.  When someone I loved was coming back from a trip by plane, you could walk all the way to the gate to greet them!  I even remember going to the airport with my dad and parking at the end of the runway.  We would get out of the car and watch planes fly over our head as they landed and took off.  Sadly, if I took my kids to see that, we would risk being arrested.  We played outside ALL of the time, for many reasons.  If I was inside, I was probably doing a chore or homework, so outside I was!  TV was rarely on, and we listened to songs on cassette tapes.  I didn't have a computer in my house until high school, and I can remember getting kicked offline because someone picked up the house phone.  You could only stay online for so long because you paid for it by the hour!  Video games were Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pac Man machines that you played at the local pizza place.  I expected nothing from my parents, and appreciated everything... but my how times have changed.

A 14 year old today, likely has her own cell phone.  She spends as much time as she wants on it because the packages are unlimited.  Anything and everything on the internet is at her fingertips all of the time.  Including more pornography than one can ever imagine, chat rooms where she can meet people who disguise their age, and sites to purchase anything one can dream of by simply entering a credit card number.  Her friends know what "sexting" is, and likely are doing it.  With apps like Snap Chat, it has become too easy.  After seeing things like the Victoria's Secret commercials, Keeping up With the Kardashians, and music videos with half naked women, I imagine that she doesn't have a very healthy body image.  No matter how beautiful she is, she will never see what she wants in the mirror.  She has friends who play video games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.  These guys are so numb to the idea of death, that some choose to bring guns to school.  She probably expects her parents to provide everything that she wants, not needs.  Unless she was raised expected to respect adults, then she may even be one of the girls screaming at her PE teacher because she had to walk a mile on the track in the heat of May.  Her parent may even be the one who sides with her instead of the teacher, and has the teacher fired for endangering her child.

What has become socially acceptable, is really unacceptable to me.  How can someone sue Paula Deen for using offensive racial slurs against black people, when they are not black.  The charges may have been dropped, but Paula Deen has lost everything she built for herself.  When did it become acceptable to use words like GD on national TV?  I change the channel every time that a Victoria's Secret commercial comes on the screen.  I can not stand the idea of my daughter seeing half naked models and thinking that is acceptable.  This country is not the country I grew up in.  While some of the changes have been for the good, there are many that have been for the bad.  I pray that my children grow up understanding what is right and what is wrong.  And I will continue to pray that they have healthy self images, work ethics, and morals.