Pearls: Teach them to make solid moral decisions
EDITORIAL MUG: Matt Pearl
So I was watching a rerun episode of a long-running, animated program the other night, and the matriarch of the cartoon family made essentially the following remark:
‘I learned that one person can make a difference, but most of the time they probably shouldn’t.’
The observation caps an episode during which the character has led a moral crusade against certain forms of television violence, and after winning realizes that she has empowered others to censor successfully other forms of artistic expression that she enjoys.
This is from an episode of television that originally aired in 1990. Thirty-three years ago. But it’s as relevant today as it was when I was in junior high.
And why does it remain so relevant? Because our society continues to define the line between indecent and undesirable.
What I like individually cannot exclusively determine what should be available to others: whether we’re talking about books, movies, music – any form of human expression – it doesn’t fall to me to determine the tastes and callings of conscience that others should possess.
All I have the power to do is to make my own choices, and by extension to impress our family’s expectation upon my own children. They cannot skirt through life without facing decisions on their own: what they choose to read, to watch or to put into their ears and minds will ultimately fall to them.
While they’re young, I protect them with a bit more of a watchful eye. I have the right (and in my beliefs, the obligation) to guard them from material that could be harmful to them. I don’t let them put physical poison into their bodies, and in kind do not allow them to feed their minds with material that our family deems inappropriate.
But you’ll not see me picketing at a library.
You won’t catch me petitioning a school board to remove books.
I have a hard enough time determining what is right for me and my own family. I certainly don’t want to carry the responsibility of being in charge of yours.
As a parent, I enjoy people like librarians and teachers behaving with discretion. There is a trend to allow non-parental adults to supply material the average person would deem explicit to children. If this were to happen in the case of my kids, I would communicate to the person responsible that my child is not allowed to be exposed to such material at this young age.
They are my kids. They do not belong to society. I make the rules, not society.
But here’s the thing: that same truth works for everyone else. They make the rules for their kids, the same as I make the rules for mine.
Why society seems so bound and determined to indoctrinate young children on issues like sexuality is beyond me. We used to use some pretty unfavorable language for adults who engaged children in that kind of talk. That’s my viewpoint.
But it’s not the law everywhere. My kids watch Netflix, too. Some things on the streaming service are against our home’s rules for them to watch. I have not written my letter to Netflix, berating the company for allowing kids to push buttons and watch shows intended for an older audience. And I will never write that letter. Instead, I teach the kids what the standard is for growing up in our home.
Life isn’t perfect. Sometimes the library book had to go back, because it’s not what a kid needs to be reading. Sometimes a child needs to wait a few years before watching that movie he wants to see. Sometimes the messages in music are too adult for a kid to maturely understand. What’s the plan? Are we going to cancel everything?
Wouldn’t our kids be better served if we taught them to make solid moral decisions based upon family expectations? No parental crusade through society will ever end the production of material that many will find offensive or inappropriate. But if we keep the crusade at home and raise children who can discern the good from the bad and make their own choices, isn’t that when censorship truly becomes obsolete?
Matt Pearl owns and operates The Tri-County Ledger.
