| I was at a PTA meeting last night, and AIDS education was discussed for
a few minutes. Apparently the "Magic Johnson situation" has caused a
lot of students and teachers to think seriously about AIDS and "safe
sex" vs abstinence.
At least people are now considering abstinence a viable option. A few
years ago, my wife proposed to the School District that they include in
their sex education class that abstinence is an option, and she was
told, "Oh, we can't do that--that is teaching religion." In response
to that, My bishop told them, "I'm a farmer. If I put a bull and a
cow together, I know in advance what will happen; if I don't want that,
then I have to separate them (i.e. the bull practices abstinence).
It's not religion at all!"
I think that educators have been afraid to teach any kind of
self-control, and I'm glad that abstinence is now being considered as
an option. I've been surprised that the media is portraying abstinence in
a positive way.
Allen
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San Diego Union, Sports section, November 13, 1991
by Barry Lorge, Union Sportswriter
JOHNSON'S ILLNESS MIRRORS WHAT SOCIETY FACES WITHOUT MORALS
William Congreve, in his 1695 play "Love for Love," wrote: "I warrant you, if
he danced till doomsday, he thought I was to pay the piper." Three centuries
later, we have not learned the wisdom of those words.
After the initial shock of Magic Johnson's retirement from basketball, because
he has contracted the virus that causes AIDS, we must wonder if this is one more
symptom of a larger infection in our society. Another reminder that the bills
for the excesses of the '80s are coming due in the '90s, and the answer is not
to remember the latex, but to rediscover a moral fiber that we have allowed to
atrophy.
Nobody saw the whole court, the interaction of all the players, better than
Magic, so perhaps he also will come to see that if his lifestyle had been as
disciplined as his game, this would not have happened to him - and others like
him who are sure to follow.
There must be more to his message than safe sex. The disease he carries could
have deadly consequences for his wife, their unborn child, anyone else with
whom he had sexual contact and their partners. The human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) is insidious, the AIDS epidemic another example of the deterioration in
the values that constituted our society's immune system.
Science may discover a serum to curb this particular plague, but we are dancing
with other doomsday ills, social as well as medical. We need to restore the
fundamental notion that, individually and collectively, we are accountable for
our actions, responsible for the future of our planet.
We live in mind-boggling times. The more we know, the less we seem to learn.
Mass communications have shrunk the globe, but we still don't understand one
another. The information explosion has blown our minds; the more data the head
absorbs, the less we take it to heart.
BANKRUPT SYSTEMS
We have microscopes that look into individual cells, but we can't see right
from wrong. We steer satellites to explore distant stars, but we can't read our
internal ethical compass.
We look around the world and see our Cold War enemy, Soviet-style communism,
collapsing - a bankrupt political, economic and social system. But when we
survey our society, the debt is also staggering. We have abused our cherished
personal and institutional freedoms. The environment is a mess, the economy is
far from robust. Our elected leaders, with a vested interest in staying in
office, try to disarm us with disinformation and reassuring rhetoric that
translates to: "What, me worry?"
Banks, historically a cornerstone of the American dream, have become a
scandal-ridden nightmare. The industries that usually drive us out of tough
times are leveraged, the customary avenues blocked by debt. Lawmakers who
overdrew their checking accounts also let budget deficits soar through the
depleted ozone layer into the stratosphere.
Our assets are a pyramids of paper. Big business and government spend more than
they make. Many of our best and brightest, who in generations past would have
been pillars of the community and public service, instead pioneered insider
trading and corporate raiding. Nobody paid the piper.
We often look at sports as a microcosm of society, and the reflection in the
looking glass is not pretty. We still thrill at the possibilities - the
artistry of Magic, the gripping drama of a wonderful World Series - but we also
have become anesthetized by drug abuse, selfishness and scandal.
Sports have sold their souls to television and Madison Avenue. The magnitude of
superstars is measured by how much they can charge for an autograph or
endorsement. Heavyweights have lawyers making motions to postpone their rape
trial until after the next mega-million title bout on pay-per-view. Owners of
pro teams wonder how they are going to meet payrolls when networks reduce the
rights fees that fueled the inflationary spiral. No one knows how to get the
Genie of Greed back in the bottle.
Congress occasionally threatens to clean up the cesspool, but its own sewers
overflow. Heard any politicians lately whose speeches reminded you of
Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR of JFK? (Forget Joe Biden's which reminded us too much
of others' eloquence.) Campaigning has become the dirtiest business this side
of laundering money, and didn't the Clarence Thomas confirmation process do
wonders to elevate public respect for the U.S. Senate and Supreme Court?
History ultimately may recall the '80s as the decade Americans lost their
social conscience. Avarice and amorality ruled - in business, in government and
interpersonal relations. Out of microchips and high-optic fibers came an
ethical confusion no computer could fathom and a moral myopia whose
consequences we are only now beginning to see.
A neighbor started talking about Magic Johnson yesterday, and the conversation
went something like this:
"I'm glad people have started to consider the moral questions
involved. We need to look at the bigger picture, how our whole
value system is out of whack.
"When I was growing up, the banker was one of the most respected
men in town, like the doctor. Now, I've lost respect for both.
Everybody got greedy. Who are our role models, athletes making $5
million? And now this superstar who had the world by the tail
apparently threw it all away, because he couldn't keep his pants
zipped, and he's telling kids promiscuity is fine as long as you
use a condom?"
Magic has an impact beyond most sports superstars because of his charisma and
because he was so unselfish - on the court and off. He made passing
fashionable, put team triumphs above showcasing his individual skills, raised
millions of dollars for charity and education.
But you can't teach ethics in business school or in postgraduate morality. That
is too late. It has to start with kids, and learning we are not free agents on
this earth. We need to find our lost conscience, individual and collective.
As a society, we have been blithely doing a dangerous, doomsday dance. Somebody
always has to pay the piper.
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