Values
I’m pretty sure that growing up, values wasn’t part of my regular vocabulary. It wasn’t top of mind, or an issue of discussion. In other words, I didn’t hear the word values that often if ever unless it was specific to something, a class a personality test or maybe a job application later. Because we just lived our values. It wasn’t challenged or questioned.
Other words that were infrequent, religion, government, morality and tradition.
Somehow life was lived by a set of unspoken, values, tradition and morality. It was the daytime soaps my Mom watched that values were questionable. How many times were Lisa and Erica married? Luke and Laura? Phew!Life in the soaps traveled at lightning speed. My Mom used to raze me, “Lisa and I were pregnant at the same time, Tom has been to war and is now a lawyer, you’re still in high school!” LOL! This was early or mid-70’s.
While I am not naive or dense, I realize that there were issues, that things happened. I’m going to guess, maybe even at the same rate? That overall statistics of life might not be that much different, we just know about it because of wall to wall 24/7/365 news.
What are family values? What is morally, what is tradition beyond what you do for birthdays or holidays?
We had what I would call family traditions around holidays. Then there were shifts, the evolution of the family. People grew up, got married and naturally divided the traditions to more of a yours, mine and ours if you will. Nothing wrong with it, but it was different. Sometimes I’d wish that Christmas Eve was just as it was. The house full of family, watching old home movies backwards or patiently (maybe not) waiting for the dishes to be done so that presents could be open, was gone.
The values, the morality, the tradition was almost unspoken because it did feel like it was who we were. We didn’t talk back, or if we did, we knew the consequences. Same for lying, breaking the rules or the laws. Respect was appropriate, not given just because of a position or title.
I didn’t know anyone who had been married 5 times. I didn’t know any parents who had affairs. I’m sure that happened. I didn’t have a lot of friends who were children of divorce. A few high school pregnancies, but the message I heard about that was never a judgmental one.
Of course in the late 60’s and 70’s gay or lesbian wasn’t “out”. I think for some we guessed or wondered, but it wasn’t out. Although realized later, I know now that my cousin was gay. I just hope that he never felt that I wouldn’t have loved or treated him any differently if I knew.
And now, 2025 we have a president who has bankrupted several businesses. Has been restricted from nonprofit work in New York because he was found guilty of misuse of funds for personal and political gain. Fraudulent university. He is on his third wife, all three he cheated on and had affairs with a number of women, publicly. He was charged and found guilty of 34 felonies for falsifying business records and mishandling classified documents, election interference, found liable of defamation (2024) and liable for sexual abuse(2023)and defamation. He’s a racist. You can probably count on both hands , maybe one how many times he has actually been in a church or held a bible.
In September he signed a new Executive Order, NSPM-7 targeting groups, organizations or individuals That can be identified by;
- anti-Americanism,
- anti-capitalism,
- anti-Christianity,
- support for the overthrow of the United States Government,
- extremism on migration,
- extremism on race,
- extremism on gender
- hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,
- hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and
- hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.
Right now the true offender is the president and every appointment he has made back to the Supreme Court. He says the quiet part out loud every day and tells you exactly what he’s going to do, but wraps it up with a fake Biden bow.
Why? Because he can. Because he is a weak, insecure, shallow individual with child like mentality that easily gets his feelings hurt and is in a position that due to lack of any guard rails or consequences from anyone allows his retribution and tantrums.
The bastard has bastardized truth, reality and anything sacred.