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The Pattern of Life
Editorial by Boniface
I'm home today and I just happened to have the tv set on while the "Leeza" show was on. They brought up a supposed controversy about a cover in the current Rolling Stone magazine. Evidently a young singer (17 years old) is on the cover in what appears to be a fairly modest bikini, and yet, there is a group of people in this country complaining about it "sexualizing a youth." What has happened in this country?
I have a daughter (16 years old) and she goes to the beach, and swimming at the pool, and she wears swim suits like that one. I'm OK with that, she's a good person and responsible; I trust her ability to make fairly sound decisions for her age. She makes better decisions than she used to, and she will, in time, make better choices in the future than she does today. That's what aquiring experience in life is about; learning as you live your life. This is natural.
In Nature, all her creatures learn in a gradual way, and take on added responsiblity and power as they learn. But it seems to me, that in this country, we have gone against this natural progression. We have laws in place that have created an artificial dividing line between who is considered an adult and who a child. This artificial line is now being used to justify treating everone below that line as a child, incapable of making choices for themselves. Then, when they reach that line, being thrust into the world of adulthood without ever having been given the chance of exercising that responsibility before. This is completely unnatural.
We live in the time of the light switch. We want the light on, we flip a switch. We want the light off, we flip it again. Nature does not operate that way. There is darkness, then just a hint of light, then dawn and morning, noon, afternoon and so on. The flower begin as a bud, and slowly blossoms. This is Nature's way. Sexuality is the same. It blossoms. There is a hint, and it grows, and in time, a fully developed adult results. I believe we are doing a great disservice to our offspring by imposing a particular age as the "light switch" of sexuality. We are having problems in this country with teen pregnancy and date rape and other such problems, because we are not teaching our youth how to handle their developing sexual natures.
Individuals develop at varying times. To say across the board "everyone under the age of eighteen cannot express any sexuality" while also saying, "everyone over eighteen has full responsiblity as an adult" is to ignore the individual and the learning process necessary for all natural beings. This "light switch mentality" is what is doing in our youth. Look to Nature; everything in its own time. Allow the flower to bloom according to its own impulses. No switches.
So what if a seventeen year old appeared in a bikini? Maybe the mote is in your own eye.
