Are you a crowd pleaser??

In the book of the prophet Isaiah, he says, 20:5, “Woe to those who say, bad is good and good is bad, light is dark and dark is light, bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.” People, who look at depravity and immorality in the eye and say, “it is good.” They are tempted by debauchery and self-indulgence and call that light, and the bitterness of those choices, they call sweet.

I was talking to someone the other day about the “blinders” strictly orthodox and Hassidic Jewish people grow up in. This lady friend was telling me how sheltered and protected from the outside world these kids are. No internet, no Facebook, no Television, no movies.  How would they ever learn to deal with the realities of our world?

I asked her, does she think children should be protected at all from negative influences? How about viruses and bacteria? Shouldn’t the children learn to deal with the realities of this world? How come they set up this drug free areas around schools, and movies are rated?

The answer is pretty simple and obvious. Children haven’t developed the inner strength and wisdom to know right from wrong and haven’t developed enough muscle to fight it off when it is identified.

That’s what parents are for. To not only protect the child until they are old enough, mature enough, and strong enough, to deal with all the negativity in the world, but also to raise and cultivate children that will know and distinguish between what is bad and what is wrong.

If a child is exposed to sickness it will become sick. If a child is fed poison it will affect its physiology one way or the other. If a child grows up in an environment of violence and jungle mentality he/she will be a violent jungle person. It’s all confused.

There have been many studies that have shown there is more violence, like fighting, kicking, punching in comics than there is in grown up shows. The ads on all the social sites and pop up advertising are more and more provocative. The average person is exposed to all this and the negative news, an average of 5 plus hours a day!!! Dirt in. More and more of it, day in and day out. No wonder we have a violent angry society.

No more creative thinking, no more playing with friends and developing social skills, and added  violent stimuli from electronic games and watching more of the tube.

If a person sees a provocatively dressed individual on the street which calls for attention that could only lead for the most part and at best to nothing worthwhile, it gets the shrug of the head if you’re lucky. But if it’s 100 degrees outside and a Hassid is walking with his old country uniform, because he has principles in his life that are worth sweating for, that is called “extreme”?

There has been a study lately that claims, the biggest fear people have is, “what will the others, think of me.”

We are a society where no one wants to stick out like a sore thumb even if it means that the others are sugar coated in immediate gratification that leads to poisonous outcomes, while the sore thumb will not disintegrate into broken up families, children in jail and drug attics.

Unfortunately, if someone stands for something different, no matter where everyone else is heading, the oddball is always regarding as an oddity and eccentric.

The proof is in the pudding. The profusion of modern technology, ADHD, anxiety, fears, a confusion and muddling of values and morals. Or, an alternative.

The question is, are you strong enough to take this other path that leads to better results, stronger family units and much greater happiness.