Our Better Nature

My husband loves to watch these shows that spotlight man's base nature, like Beyond Scared Straight and others. You don't even need to watch the shows like Bridezillas, who continually and endlessly shock me at their ridiculous behavior, and I'm even more shocked that their fiancee's go through with the marriages. Don't even get me started with Jersey Shore, and a few others. It's brought me to a single conclusion in regards to the state of mankind; at some point we stopped trying to be better people and embraced the natural man, much to the detriment of modern society.

Before the feminist movement took over the American landscape, it was commonplace for women to behave like...women. Some were really feminine, some were more tomboyish, but always women. Men, well before the likes of Gloria Steinem and others, largely treated women with the respect we used to treat ourselves.

But now chivalry is all but dead. Women and men both embrace crudity, baseness and relish their roles as the lowest common denominator. No more do they strive to be better people, to educate and refine themselves. No more are there goals being set that would not only improve upon oneself, but also improve the circumstances of the community around them. We no longer live in a society where the majority strives to be better.

The question is this? Does it matter? I believe it does matter. Once we abandoned the effort to elevate ourselves rather than succumb to the natural man, society as a whole started a downward turn that brought us to where we are to today. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and "love one another", two of the greatest commandments Jesus gave, seem to have no place in modern society, for they have been perverted and twisted beyond recognition.

This is all part and parcel of the entitlement society America is emerging into. If we have no desire to hold ourselves to a higher standard, then we lose all respect for those who do. If we have no desire to work for a living, then we emerge into these beings who feel entitled to everything another has worked years to achieve. Drunk, drugged, high on base living, I give you modern society.

When we taught our children it was an admirable thing to improve ourselves, society and America excelled. When learning the story of the grasshopper and the ant, we came to understand we could play and dance all day, but if we didn't prepare for the coming winter we were going to be in a sorry state. And when the roles between men and women became blurred, women lost the individuality and feminine aspects of our natures. Not only are doors no longer opened for women, men think nothing of pushing and shoving past a woman to get there first. Women? Women swear like sailors, get into knockdown drag out fights, become drug queenpins, and others indulge in even more reprehensible behavior.

So what is the answer? The answer is seeing ourselves as God sees us rather than as Satan does. It's time to become real men and women. It's time to make good things good, and bad things bad again. When the line became blurred there, what started as the breakdown of society finished the transformation into an entitlement society where personal respect has no place.

It's not difficult to overcome the natural man or woman, but it does take work. Respect, honor, and loyalty are all things that can refine us. Helping and serving others can refine us and make us better people. Thinking of others first, not to the detriment of ourselves, but in a loving and caring manner, teaches us to grow and be better human beings. We must remember that we were not put on earth to wallow in the mud with the pigs, but rise above and leave this world a better place when we die.

You can still be tough and be a good person. You can still have a spine of steel and be a lady. You can still be imperfect, in fact we all are, and rise above the squalor that humanity has become. Eradicate crassness and crudity, and the complete submission to the natural man. For instance:

• If you feel the need to masturbate or have sex in public, you've succumbed to the natural man.
• If road rage is a common event in your life, you've succumbed to the natural man.
• If growling, screaming, raging against everything and everyone in your life is commonplace, you've succumbed to the natural man.
• If addictive behavior rules you, alcohol - drugs - eating to excess, you've succumbed to the natural man.
• If you are guilty of domestic violence, physical - psychological - emotional, then you have succumbed to the natural man.

These are but a few examples, but you get my point. I don't know when society decided to stop try being better and just indulge our every whim, but we've paid dearly for it. We must regain control of ourselves, appeal to the better side of our human nature, and remember God put us here to become better people, not worse. Stop embracing everything bad, and start looking to the good.

The very salvation of society and our nation depends on it.

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Copyright 2013. All rights reserved by Candace E. Salima.