The Decline of Marriage, Family, and Community

Today, I was in my English class and we were going over the short stories that we were supposed to read for today. My English class is broken up into three themes: Dignity, Loyalty/fidelity, and Men and Women. We just arrived on the third theme, Men and Women. The short stories, The Yellow Wallpaper and Story of an Hour, are both set back when women had very little rights or voice in society. While the stories didn't exactly bore me to death, they aren't the reason for this post.

What is the reason for this post is the discussion that the short stories brought about. We started discussing marriage and its importance to everyone. The class has about twenty students in it, and most of them said that marriage wasn't important. Most of the students in the class were raised by one parent or by parents that were divorced, or, by parents that weren't married. The general consensus was that it doesn't matter who raises a child, just that they are brought up right. It doesn't matter if the parents are married or not, or are gay and adopted a child. Marriage, is only important in taxes. 

I feel at a loss for words. This was laid so heavily on my heart that I find a lack of words to explain how important this is to me. I believe that the next generation and the generation after that will be the most lost of every other generation in America. The next generation, and even my generation, is straying farther and farther away from community and how we were supposed to live. They are becoming more "independent" and no longer value family and relationships as they should. These kids that rush into relationships that quickly form then dissipate, it's not a healthy lifestyle. Kids are no longer taught that maintaining relationships is even worth it. Most are taught that if a relationship isn't going your way, you can get out of it. That if you don't like the way the relationship is progressing, you can quickly and easily get out of it to find something "better". The next generation believes that they can simply "unfriend" someone. I believe that marriage is a God-given thing that should be treasured. Jesus said that what God has put together, we should not take apart. People have lost direction and are confused by too much noise. Noisy is the world we live in! And I wish it were quieter. 

This has become so heavy on my heart and I pray so intensely for my generation and the ones after.