Re: Jack Hickman
Date: November 11, 2009 03:54AM
Underneath it all, many people remain involved because they just want their kids to turn out better than those raised by pop-culture, which they see as evil and godless. Fortunately, much of pop-culture is complete garbage, so when you reach the age of reason and take control of your own life, their intentions are at least salvageable. If your lucky, you've gained an invaluable experience from being raised in such a bizarre circumstance. The experience has been mixed for all of us.
Below is an illustration of how gray and muddled this whole thing really is:
1. People may shelter their children, but among the other children they experience some extremely strong friendships. Unfortunately, this can be to the point where they're dissatisfied with their outside friendships because they're so impersonal and cliche.
2. When they become teenagers and start to date, in or out, they believe they're "not allowed" to do much more than kiss, so it keeps early relationships mildly honest and substantiated. Of course, the inevitable bending of the rules can cause a lot of tension, while agreeing to break the rules can mean deep guilt and regret. I've had several friends confess such things to me, feeling suicidal.
3. When you grow up thinking the world is going to end soon, you value who you have, not what you have. That was a very big theme in the group, the unimportance of material things, as they distract you from god. Well, god aside, life isn't all about money, and I think that was definitely a lesson worth learning the hard way. In the wake of the doomsday myth though, it's tempting to go out and buy/pursue all of the worldly things you had looked down on. Not to mention, many people are struggling with what to do with their lives because they never thought about "what they wanted to be" when they grew up.
Don't get me wrong, on the whole, this group is wrong and the beliefs can be severely damaging, but I can clearly identify things in my life and my character that I owe to it... I feel like Andy Dufresne.