The way we view the world is changing. I suppose that our views of the world have been undergoing changes for years now. But as of late, these changes are becoming more obvious. Things that we viewed as taboo are now becoming acceptable. Things that once seemed terrible to us are now everyday occurrences. In some ways these changes are helping us move forward as people and as a culture. In other ways, these changes might only lead to disaster.
For example, there is the controversial issue of gay relationships. Twenty, thirty years ago, to be gay was completely unmentionable. No one talked about it; a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy was strictly enforced. Today, people are allowed to love freely whomever they choose. The issue of gay rights is ever popular, and many people are fighting to receive the same chances for all people regardless of their sexual orientation. Of course, there are people who are opposed to these changes in thinking. There will always be ignorance and prejudice as long as there are people because we are all human, but the way we think as a nation and as a culture is changing rapidly.
Another change is the way we view sex. This is another controversial issue which affects today’s teenagers. Twenty years ago, if you had sex before you were married, you did not talk about it. It was not acceptable to be physically intimate with someone unless there were binds that held you together with that person forever. Nowadays, sex is common among teens. Teenagers in the United States are more likely to have sexual intercourse before age 15 and have shorter and more sporadic sexual relationships than teenagers in Canada, France, Great Britain and Sweden. As a result, they are more likely to have more than one partner in a given year. Males (18%) are more likely than females (11%) to report having had more than four sexual partners. Teen sex stats remain relatively stable, but intercourse has dropped to 60.5 percent among 12th graders in the US to 66.7 percent. The Guttmacher Institute found that 50 percent of teens between the ages of 15 and 19 in the US have had oral sex. The indication is that oral sex is beginning to be seen as an alternative to intercourse. But with the rise in teen sexual activity has been the rise in the use of contraceptives to prevent teen pregnancy and STD’s. And while teens have always engaged in sexual activity in the past, I don’t believe that we have ever been more outspoken about it.
An example of a change that might not be for the best is the way we view disasters. Watching the news, we are exposed to the increasing level of violence in the urban areas of our country. Instead of being shocked by the climbing rate, we are apathetic to it. Gang violence and random shootings are starting to seem normal to us. What is wrong with us that we see violent deaths as a natural occurrence? On 9/11, we realized that our country was vulnerable to attacks from other nations. We realized that someone could come in and shatter our lives in a matter of minutes. Our whole nation cried out as this awful tragedy. Will it take another huge catastrophe to wake us up to the violence not from other countries, but within our own?
As the world changes, people change with it. We hardly have a say in the matter as we introduce new technology and new ideas into our culture. But are all these changes for the best? I suppose that only time will tell.