Rubber and Glue

The problem with young people is that they rationalize their bad behavior and fail to take responsibility for their actions. At least that’s the attitude I often encounter from adults. I can’t always argue with the accuracy of the attitude, as some young people do rationalize bad behavior and fail to take responsibility. What I can argue with, however, is the implication that this is trait of young people. If adults want to understand why some young people behave this way, all it takes is some honesty and a mirror.

Take for example the story I heard on the radio this morning. It seems that the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle is having a little bit of trouble scrapping together the cash needed to pay off the judgments against them resulting from the sexual abuse scandals that they ignored for years. This may seem strange, as the Catholic Church is not exactly an organization without resources, but therein lays the problem -- they want to keep all of their resources, and paying the judgments would require them to sell of some of their property. So, in order to avoid the inconvenience of having to suffer any real consequences for their actions, they’ve come up with a great idea. The parishioners should pony up the bucks.

That’s right. The Church failed to protect the parishioner’s children, is now facing the consequences of their actions, and is asking the parishioners themselves to protect them from the responsibility of their actions. Each parishioner family is being asked to cough up one thousand dollars. Yes, you heard me correctly; they want a grand from every family. Seriously, which of these two scenarios do you think does more financial harm: the Catholic Church selling off some property, or a working class family finding one thousand dollars they can afford to spare? How many of these families do you think has the resources to part with a thousand bucks easily? Not to worry, though -- the Church has a fabulous rationalization for this. You see, all the parishioners have to do is put the thousand bucks on their credit cards. In that way, not only will they “have control over the financing and payment” (meaning they get to pay interest), but they can also benefit from airline miles! What a great plan! We’ve betrayed your trust, so why don’t you relieve us of the responsibility by going into debt while earning yourself a nice vacation!

But this post really isn’t about the Catholic Church. They just happen to be today’s example of nearly daily doses of poor adult behavior that role models for our children how people should behave. The next time you hear someone lamenting about the behavior of young people, think about that wise cliché that young people speak; you know, the one about rubber and glue …