2003 January — wadehodges.com

Mark Riddle is talking some sense over at his site.

In addition to viewing kids as expendable culture gives no meaningful way to help children to become adults. There isn’t a marker or defining moment that declares “yesterday you where a child, today you are a man/woman.” Adolescence (the process of becoming an adult)(something we invented in the America) grows longer. As a result we have 28 year old teenagers all over the western world.
Jewish culture does a better job. But the church is silent on the issue. I believe the church is a culture shaping force. If it is this issue is a good place to start.

I hope to someday come up with a male initiation rite that the boys of the church can go through as a way of being welcomed into the community of men. One of the ways the men of the church can serve the boys of the church, especially those raised only by their mother, is initiating them into manhood. I’ve been told that girls don’t need the same kind of initiation into adulthood that men do as life hands them plenty of trials in the form of menstruation, pregnancy, and the men they love. Adulthood comes to most women naturally. It seems most boys need to be forced into it. Ladies, if I’m wrong, let me hear about it. (BTW–My wife says I’m right, and she’s smart.)

Catch Me If You Can

Filed Under: Movies

Heather and I saw “Catch Me If You Can” yesterday. I really enjoyed it. A fun ride. To me the most important line in the movie was, “Sometimes it’s easier to believe the lie” (or something like that). When you think about the movie through the lens of that line, almost everyone in movie is an illustration of the point it makes. The dad, the son, Tom Hanks, Martin Sheen. This movie was full of folks who prefer a pleasant fiction over an uncomfortable truth. As such, it shines a light on the deceptive nature of our world and our willingness to buy the lie. Most of us want to believe the lies we are told on a daily basis. Most of us tell ourselves lies on a daily basis and eventually come to believe them. Why? Because sometimes reality sucks. The truth hurts. Lies makes us feel better.

People get divorced. Parent hurt their kids. The strong steal from the weak.

This is the world in which we live. Sometimes the best we can do is divert our attention with a lie.

So we tell ourselves we are better off than we really are. We rationalize our faults and minimize the sins of those we love. Eventually, we come to believe that things are not that bad after all.

Why? Because we want to.

Then we start telling others that things are better than they really are. We cook the books and exaggerate our earnings. To our amazement, they believe us.

Why? Because they want to.

The guy on the late night infomercial tells me his product will make me rich in less than 30 days, while at the same helping me lose 30 pounds. I know he’s lying. I know what he’s selling defies the very laws of nature. Yet I grab my credit card and pick up the phone and invest in one more get-rich-quick-lose-your-gut-in-a-week-lie.

Why? Because I want to believe he’s telling the truth. I want to believe his lie.

Why? I really don’t know.

And that’s the truth.