Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Whoever disregards
discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. (Proverbs 13:18 &20)
According to the Brookings Institute, if you want to move up into the Middle Class, a teen should finish school, wait until after age 21 to get married or pregnant, and hold down a job. According to research presented in a video about privilege, the first indicator of privilege is that one has parents who are married to one another, living in the same home, and engaged in their relationships with each other and their children. In other words, privilege is based on whether or not one has a whole family as opposed to a broken one. Now, I realize that life is life, and circumstances can’t always be what we’d prefer, but that doesn’t change the reality of the findings.
There are people who think it wrong to “shame” someone because he/she isn’t part of a traditional family. They insist that people who choose alternative lifestyles should be afforded the same privileges that those who choose traditional lifestyles do. It’s wrong for Traditionals to benefit from their traditionalness. It’s wrong to penalize Alternatives because of their alternative lifestyles. However, if the traditional lifestyle provides privilege, and if alternative lifestyles withhold privilege, isn’t the wise thing conforming to the traditional as much as is even remotely possible? How is it wise for us to promote what is detrimental to society?
The answer, I’m told, is that so-called diversity is more important than privilege. Tolerance (of some specific groups) is more important than the well-being of the person or family. There are those who openly advocate lifestyles that are harmful to the person and family, and yet society sees fit to attack the people who are speaking up in favor of that which is shown to impart privilege and support well-being while demanding that the world artificially support those who suffer harm because of their alternative lifestyles. Today’s passage says that the companion of fools suffers harm. This suggests that those who hang around with, or effectively agree with and support, what is harmful are fools, while those who work within the framework of reality, within the framework that has been shown for centuries to promote a healthier society and which is still being shown to do so are wise.
There are people who think it wrong to “shame” someone because he/she isn’t part of a traditional family. They insist that people who choose alternative lifestyles should be afforded the same privileges that those who choose traditional lifestyles do. It’s wrong for Traditionals to benefit from their traditionalness. It’s wrong to penalize Alternatives because of their alternative lifestyles. However, if the traditional lifestyle provides privilege, and if alternative lifestyles withhold privilege, isn’t the wise thing conforming to the traditional as much as is even remotely possible? How is it wise for us to promote what is detrimental to society?
The answer, I’m told, is that so-called diversity is more important than privilege. Tolerance (of some specific groups) is more important than the well-being of the person or family. There are those who openly advocate lifestyles that are harmful to the person and family, and yet society sees fit to attack the people who are speaking up in favor of that which is shown to impart privilege and support well-being while demanding that the world artificially support those who suffer harm because of their alternative lifestyles. Today’s passage says that the companion of fools suffers harm. This suggests that those who hang around with, or effectively agree with and support, what is harmful are fools, while those who work within the framework of reality, within the framework that has been shown for centuries to promote a healthier society and which is still being shown to do so are wise.
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