The First Mourning, 1888. William-Adolphe Bouguereau. This round, as we get into the polarizing issue of public morality, I share a few observations from Karl Menninger.
"Sin" seems like a forbidden word these days, the idea of which has been something to be mocked, at best. As if simply saying it comes with a flood of Christian judgment. And this has grown to the point where it's not just "sin against God" that's laughable or even insidious, but the idea of sin against others or oneself as well. That erasure of the notion of sin leads to a lot of what you've mentioned here, I think.
Your writing makes me glad that I work where and how I do. It's an all-boys' arts organization, and we regularly get hyper-woke leftist types decrying us for not having any girls in it. The purpose of excluding girls has nothing to do with placing a value on girls and everything to do with the fact that when the organization was established, there were such spaces for girls already, but there were NO safe, upbuilding arts programs that were just for boys. Which is still a wide need that many overlook in the name of political correctness these days.
The organization's values are a lot around the type of thing you write about - developing a sense of morality, stable identity, and community responsibility in the boys we work with - and so I often think of it when I read what you write.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, Nami. I'm pretty much in favor of temporarily segregating certain spaces in education based on biological sex. It's not simply because I went to an all-girls missionary convent as a teenager but also because there is utility to such a practice and organizing principle as you mentioned. I'm also not surprised about the backlash you've seen. This obviously socially engineered animus against men and boys is something I wonder about and might write about down the lane.
I love this post. Thank you for writing.
"Sin" seems like a forbidden word these days, the idea of which has been something to be mocked, at best. As if simply saying it comes with a flood of Christian judgment. And this has grown to the point where it's not just "sin against God" that's laughable or even insidious, but the idea of sin against others or oneself as well. That erasure of the notion of sin leads to a lot of what you've mentioned here, I think.
Your writing makes me glad that I work where and how I do. It's an all-boys' arts organization, and we regularly get hyper-woke leftist types decrying us for not having any girls in it. The purpose of excluding girls has nothing to do with placing a value on girls and everything to do with the fact that when the organization was established, there were such spaces for girls already, but there were NO safe, upbuilding arts programs that were just for boys. Which is still a wide need that many overlook in the name of political correctness these days.
The organization's values are a lot around the type of thing you write about - developing a sense of morality, stable identity, and community responsibility in the boys we work with - and so I often think of it when I read what you write.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment, Nami. I'm pretty much in favor of temporarily segregating certain spaces in education based on biological sex. It's not simply because I went to an all-girls missionary convent as a teenager but also because there is utility to such a practice and organizing principle as you mentioned. I'm also not surprised about the backlash you've seen. This obviously socially engineered animus against men and boys is something I wonder about and might write about down the lane.