EVER since the 1960s there has been a growing desire in society for more personal, financial and occupational freedom.
This trend has been the result of a pop culture that has expressed such needs to the adolescent and young adult sections of the population in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and now in the new millennium.
It has resulted in more and more couples seeking divorce, a growing laxity in attempts to bring up children in the correct way, a rise in the drug culture, freedom of expression in media outlets and sexual promiscuity among a vast proportion of the population.
It has caused violence on TV, films and in books to be accepted as the norm.
How are these freedoms being used? The breakdown of the family unit from what it used to be like in the 1950s, has resulted in children often not having the influence of either a father or a mother on their lives and the resulting deterioration in their behaviour patterns.
Such children have often become parents or teachers themselves, thereby exacerbating the process.
Poor behaviour of children often goes unpunished with some children growing up in trouble with the law and not aware of the immorality of their behaviour.
Violence on TV and in movies desensitises children to the acts of killing, torture and suicide through over-exposure to violence and also desensitises them to the immorality of violence, killing, torture and suicide.
With freedom of sexual expression has come an increasing desire to have sex without condoms when the sexual arousal is at its most exciting stage.
With increasing acceptance of drug taking among the young has come the feeling that its consequences will never affect them or at least escape them.
Overall there is an increasing desire in society to get money without working for it, to get possessions without paying for it, to take drugs whilst denying the consequences, to have a family without the responsible bringing up of children and mutual support of family members and to see, hear and read what one likes.
The reality of life is just the opposite of the above. One has to work to earn money, pay for possessions, not take drugs and support and raise ones family to be useful members of society.
We should also be careful about what we see, hear and read (especially children) so that we grow with the right influences on our lives.
CHARLES LEIGH McBRIDE Eight Mile Plains, Qld
