responsibility

As I skimmed through the news, I learned that several cities throughout the country are trying to make it illegal for fast food chains to include toys inside of their kid's meals because "it promotes poor nutritional health in our children."  Just one more way that we as Americans can deflect our responsibility as parents and people of moderation and responsibility.  I see this trend a lot.  It is so much easier to focus on what is wrong with politics, the church, the school system, the media, etc, as oppose to taking responsibility for who we are and what we do.  When we can find a problem with 'the system' (and we will always be able to find something), we can now sleep much better at night because it no longer becomes our fault... we can pass the blame.

I know several people who have become obsessed with the 'decline of morality in America,' the 'liberal agenda of school systems/government,' etc.  And while I am not advocating that we become idle regarding our convictions, what I am saying is that at the end of the day we are free (and responsible) creatures.  No one forces you and your children to have MTV, a computer with internet capabilities in three different rooms of your house, to allow your children to be out of the house with friends three nights a week, and so on.  And while this may sound ironic coming from a man who does not have children, somewhere along the line we adopted this mentality that parenting should be relatively easy... I would dare to say that good parenting is one of the most difficult and exhaustive responsibilities we could ever have.  What this country lacks is not a reform in our school systems, governments, and kid's meals, we need reform in regards to our responsibility as people, as parents, and as families.