This problem had been hovering in my consciousness for years. Several years ago, I began to notice a slight cultural shift. Politeness became rare. Manners were nowhere to be found, and general discourteousness began to abound. I started to think we are becoming a culture that praises self-absorbed, self-important behavior. Then came the flood of “reality” TV shows which, as far as I can tell, hold the worst of human behavior as entertainment. This hovering idea crash landed for me in a dramatic fashion in 2013, at the Louvre, with the Mona Lisa. After a long wait, upon finally reaching the room where the Mona Lisa is housed, I turned the corner to find hundreds of people with their backs to the painting. They were not even looking at the Mona Lisa, but were instead taking selfies with her! I could not believe what I was seeing. The opportunity to view a masterpiece up close was overshadowed by the crowd’s desire to include themselves in this great work. (I am still recovering from that scene.*) That experience caused me to withdraw a bit and observe more. This brings us back to the summer headlines
Most people both love and value animals and animal life. Most people love humans, and value human life. I will still venture to say that most people value human life over that of animal life, but that is not the same as a disregard for animals. As a diverse society, we will always disagree on the legality of abortion, and that debate is not my purpose here. My argument is that as a culture, we are looking at both of these horrific stories from the wrong perspective. We are focusing too closely and separately on the actions, and we are missing the big picture, or heart motive behind them both.
Both stories are terrible because they are indicators of disordered loves. We love ourselves most of all, and this has gone so far that we have created a culture of death, rather than life. As a culture, we believe that we can kill to satisfy our personal desires. This is the absolute height of our cultural trend toward narcissism. I shudder to think what is ahead, as we continue to love ourselves more than our neighbor, our children, and our Lord. Please pray with me for a change of heart. Pray that we will re-order our hearts away from ourselves, and toward the true, good, and beautiful as they are found in the life and person of Jesus Christ.
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:9-10
Jeanne Wilks
Secondary Principal
*Not only has the Louvre become an incredibly commercialized place. It has an entire shopping mall incorporated into its entrance—there is less focus on the art and much focus on “your Louvre experience.” Even the Louvre is all about YOU.