|
We live in a time where the rapid advances in
communications is changing our world and making it into a global
village. The Internet especially is coming into our homes and
spreading all kinds of ideas, some of them good, others very
unhealthy. And there is little we can do about it except to pay
closer attention to our children and help them navigate through the
maze of concepts and information that threatens to overwhelm them.
Recent studies have confirmed
what we elders have suspected all along. That is that premarital sex
is on the rise. More than that, it seems that our young people see
sex as part of dating, something that will inevitably happen. There
is a thinking out there that causal sex does little or no harm to a
relationship. In fact, they believe that it will enhance it. It has
gotten to the point where there is little distinction between love
and sex. In fact, I have heard many young ones tell me that “love
is sex and sex is love.” The two are interchangeable.
I, of course, have to strongly
disagree. I do so not so much on moral grounds because morality is a
subjective matter. Society has its norms which determine what is and
what isn’t acceptable. And what is clear is that there is mounting
confusion about those norms because of the influx of ideas from
around the world.
In the old days, society was
tightly knit. A village was isolated and the rules of behavior were
clearly defined. Break them and you paid the price. Not so today
when rules are increasingly being challenged by more and more
people. This allows much more room to roam without being censured.
The lines drawn between the acceptable and the scandalous are
becoming blurred.
Premarital sex is one of those
issues that has lost much of what I call its scandal power. People
don’t get terribly upset over it anymore. Unlike years ago when
people would get shocked when they heard about it, nowadays we
hardly bat an eyelash. It comes to the point where we expect it to
happen and hardly disapprove of it.
Customs and society’s values
are in a constantly changing. In our global village, however, the
changes are more rapid than ever in the history of mankind. And
there is little we can do to stop them. Rather, we need to carefully
consider what is healthy and what isn’t and then make educated
choice.
If you have problems about
drugs, alcohol and behavior/attitude call my office at 8206107 or
8251771 or e-mail me at gvcbuenca@vasia.com or write me at P.O. Box
2099 MCPO, Makati City.
|
