Perpetual childishness

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." 1 Corinthians 13:11

Peggy Noonan has an interesting commentary this week on how far away from the example above we've grown as a society.

...it's a great mistake when you are in a leadership position to want to be like everyone else. Because that, actually, is not your job. Your job is to be better, and to set standards that those below you have to reach to meet. And you have to do this even when it's hard, even when you know you yourself don't quite meet the standards you represent...

A lot of our leaders—the only exceptions I can think of at the moment are nuns in orders that wear habits—have become confused about something, and it has to do with being an adult, with being truly mature and sober. When no one wants to be the stuffy old person, when no one wants to be "the establishment," when no one accepts the role of authority figure, everything gets damaged, lowered. The young aren't taught what they need to know. And they know they're not being taught, and on some level they resent it.

This is the great problem of relativism mixed with egalitarianism. Authority is eroded from underneath, by people shouting "who's to say?" "you're not the boss of me" or "who died and made you king?" At the same time, authority erodes itself through populist pandering or exhibiting poor judgment and a negative example of "one of da boys," as Captain Honors did.

Every human being has intrinsic dignity, by virtue of bearing the imago dei. Not every person, however, chooses to cultivate that dignity, or to develop the ability to shoulder responsibility. Anyone who doubts this need only turn on the latest faux-'reality' show. There are those who may perceive me as sometimes distant, even aloof. My profession expects a certain amount of that, and a further gap is created by my desire to remain--as much as possible--apart from the world's ever-lowering standards. To the person who says "you think you're better than me," my reply is only "no, but perhaps it's possible by the grace of God I'm making better choices."

We don’t need more “Friends,” “Survivors” or “Jersey Girls.” What we desperately need as a society are adults: parents, mentors, role models and leaders. Otherwise, we’ll continue our descent into Neverland as the children who refuse to grow up.