Dear Editor,

Hard times make strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. Welcome to modern America. We may be the weakest generation that has ever walked the earth. By weakest, I mean from baby boomers all the way to the current generation that is in its teens and early 20s. I recently studied four categories that our modern lives are divided into.

1. We are all little kings. There has never been a time in history where all of us, from the poorest American to the richest, live exponentially better than those of the past. They sweated it out in summer. They dealt with freezing weather in winter. They had to find whatever would grow during the season and had only the meat of what was caught. There was no medical services or aspirin. They used pots or trenches to relieve themselves. Today, you can travel anywhere in a car, with temperature control and soft seats. You can have food in minutes. Television, iPhones, and computers give instant information and entertainment. If all these comforts are taken one day, we may just fall apart.

2. Common sense has died. Today common sense is not celebrated. Society celebrates victimhood. This is intersectionality. We are all segregated to different groups. It is based on race, gender, socioeconomic status and sexuality. The more you can convince others you are oppressed the more the media, corporations and the government support you. The more oppressed groups you belong to the more respect you obtain. So now we are competing to see who can be the greatest victim. Life should be based upon the content of character, hard work, and freedom of thought and speech. Victimhood divides us and will destroy us.

3. We are all chocolate soldiers. Everyone in society is offended. We can’t talk about anything because someone will be offended and melt down. If someone brings up a relevant subject to government, culture, religion, etc., we forbid debate. We are not allowed to agree to disagree. It doesn’t happen anymore. Today you are called names like supremacist or racist and banished from all social media and discourse. These terms are watered down so much they lose their strength when it actually does apply.

4. It’s your fault. We blame everyone else for our problems. All wrongs in your life cannot be everyone else’s fault 100% of the time. We don’t deal with our self centered behavior but again glorify it like victimhood. We are spiraling downward as a society and playing into the hands of Satan. We must educate our youth and stand against these four weaknesses or we will wind up on the dust heap of history. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. — Psalm 33:12

Randy Marple

Shadyside