A Paradox

“If you decide to have sex, get informed first.” 

“Friend, teacher, lover or partner?  It makes no difference.  When it comes to a relationship that involves sex – have safe sex!”

“The right time for sex is wonderful, the wrong time is depressing and sad.  Know yourself, know your body and then get to know someone else’s.”

“What are you waiting for?  Don’t wait to get a life.  Decide what’s best for you and then stick to your guns.  Honesty, communication and safe sex are not just for when you find your True Love.  Now is the time.”

These little “gems”, along with a lot more, including sex games and ways to masturbate, were recently found in a LoveLife pamphlet for teenagers distributed in a major Sunday newspaper.  

Peer pressure is already a strong force pushing many youngsters into sex before they are emotionally ready for such an act.  I watched an “Oprah” show recently where she compared the views of older women with younger women on their sexuality.  The younger women, all in their early twenties, said that the older generation were too sexually conservative.  These young women go out aggressively to get a man for a good night of sex.  They say that they that there are no strings attached and that’s the way they want it.  They are also a lot more experimental in many different areas of sexuality.  Both age groups agreed that teenagers should be a lot more cautious about experimenting with sex.

Wow!  What a different world we live in.  Values have changed radically leaving us in a world where prozac and condoms are advised with increasing regularity to our teens.  Is this empowerment?  

The notion of sex outside of marriage is already set.  I’m not so sure that this sexual “freedom” has given all that it promises.  Doing “what I want when I want” can be a frightening thing.  There are no boundaries in place and our society has become a free for all.  

Thanks to the horrific advent of AIDS our youth are being encouraged to have sex and to experiment sexually as long as they are using condoms.  Whatever happened to abstinence – a sign of respect, dignity and strength?  It’s not a question of condoms; it’s a question of human worth.  Is our worth measured by our sexuality?  I think not.

Why is it that people are proud to shout out their sexual preferences and activities, but are ashamed to admit that they have AIDS?  I salute those who have broken the silence and are smashing the stigma around AIDS.  What a warped sense of values our post-modern society has chosen to adopt.

The following excerpts from an email, written by a high school student, crossed my desk recently.        

“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; 

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.  

We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space; we’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.  We have higher incomes, but lower morals; 

These are the times of tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.  These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare;  a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to forward this message and make a difference… or just hit delete.”

I wish I could delete many of the values being espoused to our young people today!