“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

–from Hamlet (William Shakespeare)

 

Of all my young patients, I loved three-year-olds the most. At that age, children begin to break away from their dependence on their parents and experiment with independence. The “Let me do it!” stage.

Ideally, after two years of consistent and loving parenting, three-year-olds feel emboldened to test the world … until someone or something throws them a “curveball.” Then, they run back to their parents–back to the comfort and security they’ve learned to trust. That sense of “home” gives them an anchor for their lives until they’re ready to hoist sail and take on the world again.

And so it is for adults, too. Our values, morals, emotions, and opinions are the sum total of what our upbringing, education, faith training, and experiences have taught us. If those were positive and meaningful, we’ve developed a sense of self and our place in the world that allows us to function amid the ebbs and flows of life–our “curveballs.”

But some folks are not lucky enough to have been raised in a stable family, with expectations and limitations set, and then strengthened intellectually by what’s taught in faith-based institutions and schools. So they flounder, wandering aimlessly, with no true “North.”

That’s the only way I can understand what we’re seeing in the public arena today. Childish and churlish behavior by thugs and criminals, yes, but also by people who, we believe, should know and behave better. It’s not just in our streets and stores, but also in businesses, colleges, and even the halls of Congress. (Our U.S. Senate is called “the greatest deliberative body in the world.” Seriously? And the U.S. House is at risk of becoming a house of cards.)

How else to explain the smash-and-grabs, the protests with their hateful signs and insulting chants, the destruction of others’ property, and other anti-social behavior? Those people, including those who prostitute themselves as paid protestors, are some combination of angry, lost, and misguided. So, they resort to two-year-old behavior: they throw the adult version of temper tantrums–and those can be a lot more destructive than throwing food or sitting on the floor and screaming.

All of this begs the question, “What’s the answer?” Clearly, good parenting in a solid home environment is paramount, as well as a proper education that teaches critical thinking.  And, of course, faith. Give a child those three things: a stable home environment, a good education, and faith-based training, and they’ve got a much better chance at successfully handling the world’s challenges.

For want of that, folks are influenced by what they see, hear, and read, and sometimes they aren’t able to interpret it properly. Witness the issues with social media and what it’s doing to our young people. To tweak a well-known phrase, people who don’t have something to stand on will fall for anything. Vacuous minds are perfect receptacles for propaganda available with just a few clicks.

Of course, parents age, become infirmed, or pass on, and our years of formal education must end, but we always have our faith to fall back on. For us Christians, it’s the belief that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Your faith may be different, but it still gives you a God or some higher spiritual being to rely on–a foundation that makes life much less threatening.

Many of us feel society’s gone off the rails, or at the very least has become more contentious and difficult, because we’ve taken God out of our lives. When He’s no longer the center of our lives and our own selfish needs and desires are, we become self-centered, selfish, or even narcissistic. We’ve lost that anchor we depend on.

We need to get it back. May God will it to happen soon.