Pastor's Pen
I am not sure that we have had a time in history where so many choices were available to us. We can choose to live in the city or the country. To some degree we can choose what career path to take. We can choose who to marry or whether to even marry at all! We can play soccer or Aussie Rules. We can choose religion or reject it. On a daily basis unless we have an overly health conscious spouse or parent we can choose what we want to eat.
We all know people who always find someone other than themselves to blame for their failures. Some drug addicts blame their parents for their drug abuse. Then they blame the police for picking on them unfairly; their counsellor for not being able to solve their problems; the government for not providing enough funds for education and rehabilitation: and so the blame game goes on and on. While no one can deny that environmental factors affect our choices blaming others to excuse our behaviour is often just a way of trying to justify unacceptable behaviours.
The scene is familiar to many. I say to my wife that I am not going to stop and ask for directions. I know where I am going. After another half hour without reaching my destination the tension has risen. To some degree the GPS (with a male voice) now decreases that tension when driving in the big city.
All of us have grown up in some sort of a culture. There is a lot spoken about culture these days. In most cultures you would find the good and the bad. We all feel a bit defensive about our culture. I get tired of some academics and media who seem to loathe every aspect of the white European culture. It is portrayed as the cause of every evil on the planet. The same people ignore the positive side of the culture where women are held in higher regard than any other culture, we have freedom of speech and people are treated with dignity. They also conveniently ignore some of the very racist traits ingrained in other cultures.