What is this world coming to?

Pretty broad topic, I know.  As I watch the news, or what passes for news these days, that thought keeps coming to my mind.  What is this world coming to?  There is so much hatred, and I don't mean the childish kind.  Remember when we were kids and we would fight?  Over stupid stuff, but we would "build our armies" with neighbors, cousins, friends from school, etc.?  By the time we got done naming names, we had forgotten what we were fighting about. 

Hatred today is different.  It goes to the core of a person's being.  And it is so strong, that it must be acted upon.  A U.S. Representative is lying in a hospital recovering from gunshot wounds, because someone hates Republicans so much that he had to try to take them out.  How did we get to this point?  No, this is not a rhetorical question.  Seriously, how in the name of Sam Hill did we ever get to this point?  I have my theories about it, but they are theories, not truths, not proven, just my thoughts. 

First and foremost, we, as a society, have left God behind.  Before anyone starts going crazy on me, remember, these are my thoughts.  If you know me, you know that I am a deeply spiritual person.  I believe in God.  I believe that He sent his Son to die on the cross as atonement for our sins.  I do my best to live a godly life.  I am not perfect.  Not by any stretch of the means.  I am, however, forgiven.  I believe this to my core.  I will never be perfect, nor will I ever deserve the forgiveness I have been given.  (John 3:16) (Romans 3:23)

Okay, so back to my first thought.  When I was growing up, things were different.  We've all heard that before.  When I was a little girl, we walked to school and from school barefoot and uphill, both ways, in the snow.  I admit, I didn't have to go barefoot, I had shoes and boots; and it wasn't uphill, it was pretty flat.  It was the Midwest.  Corn country.  It was flatter than flat.  Anyway.  In the late 60's and early 70's, little girls were expected to wear dresses to school.  All the time.  We wore shorts under our dresses on PE days.  We also wore them under our dresses if we knew we were going to be playing on the jungle jim at lunch.  In the winter, we wore pants under our dresses until we reached school, and then we hung our pants up in the coat closet until it was time to go home.  The first time I remember a girl wearing pants to school all day was in second grade, and oh my goodness, we thought the world was going to end right then and there.  It was scandalous.  Now a days, it's all we can do to keep little girls covered up.  I do not want you to think that I am in favor of burkas or anything like that.  I just don't think that little girls should be running around in short shorts and bikini tops that are barely more than two scraps of fabric held together by dental floss.    And the makeup.  I see little girls today in full makeup.  But I'm getting off track.

The point I'm trying to make (and probably failing) is that once upon a time, morals were important.  Parents taught morals at home.  Teachers taught morals at school.  The golden rule was practiced.  You know the one, do unto others as you would have others do unto you.  Funny, but that comes from the Bible (Luke 6:31).  Gradually, children's feelings became more important than teaching them right from wrong.  The lines became so blurred that they don't even exist anymore.  "If it feels good, do it" seems to be the more prevalent societal rule.  You know what, it's not good.  There is no more right and wrong.  It's gone.  And you know what, it sucks. 

When I was growing up, we were entitled to 3 meals a day, a roof over our head, and clean clothes.  If we didn't like what was served, we went hungry.  We did not die.  We learned to take the good with the bad.  Sometimes we got liver and onions.  Sometimes we got steaks on the grill.  Now I will admit, the nights that liver and onions was served there was always something else available because someone could legitimately not keep that stuff down.  The point is, we learned to take the good with the bad.  It built fortitude.

Today's children seem to think that they are entitled to the latest iPhone, X-box and designer clothes.  Their wants should be the most important thing in the family unit.  If they don't get what they want, the kids call CPS to claim abuse.  Which then lead to a whole new set of problems.  The parents now cannot discipline the children, because once again, CPS is called, and it goes on and on and on.  I know it's not like this in every family.  I know that.  But it is like that in many families.  Then there are the families where Mom and Dad are divorced, kids are bounced back and forth between houses.  Mom and Dad cannot be civil to each other, so they try to buy off the children with stuff.  This creates a whole new layer.  The kids become adept at playing one parent against the other.  Then, when they get to school, they play the parents against the teacher.  The teacher tries to discipline the child at school.  The child goes home to say the teacher hurt their feelings.  Next thing you know, Mom/Dad/whoever is at the school wanting to know why they hurt precious Jimmy's feelings.  Don't you know he comes from an unstable environment.  You should be nurturing him instead of calling him on the carpet.

Now Jimmy has grown up.  He is not happy with the current political atmosphere in this country.  So, in order to do something about it, he decides to go shoot government officials.  Why does he do this?  Because he was brought up in a society that worried more about feelings than morals.  I don't want your religious rhetoric shoved down my throat, or the throat of my child(ren).  So the Golden Rule gets tossed, along with every other moral idea.

Folks, I don't care if you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Wiccan, whatever.  There has to be some sort of accountability.  Some sort of right and wrong.  Without it, we are doomed.