The Little Red Hen understood the real world. She asked for help as she planted, nurtured,
harvested, milled and baked. No one cared
about helping with the work. Everyone
wanted to enjoy the freshly baked bread.
She rightly allowed only those who worked for the bread to Sadly, she ate alone. She understood that pleasure and
responsibility go hand in hand.
enjoy
it.
These connections are self-evident to those steeped in the
Protestant work ethic. The pleasure of
sex brings the responsibility of commitment and potential parenthood. The pleasure of leisure comes after the
responsibility of work. The pleasure of
beachfront property brings the responsibility of preparing for storm
damage. The “pleasure” of poor health
choices creates the responsibility of dealing with diabetes, heart disease,
lung cancer, or cirrhosis of the liver.
Unfortunately today’s culture works constantly to sever
pleasure from responsibility. Pregnant
and don’t want to be? There’s a pill for
that. Hung over? There’s a pill for that. Sleepy?
Have an energy drink. Distracted? Choose your ADHD med. Negative consequences must be avoided at all
costs, even at the cost of human life. The
consequences of recreational sex, laziness, poor judgment, poor health choices,
and economic risk must not be felt. (This
is actually part of the contemporary doctrine that all suffering must be
avoided.) Some corporations are too big
to fail, so the taxpayers bail them out.
When hurricanes destroy their homes, uninsured property owners receive
interest free, government guaranteed loans.
Many able-bodied adults choose not to work but collect electronic benefits
transfer (EBT) payments every month. Millions
of babies die each year when abortion is used as birth control. Though intended to help people, these pills
and policies harm the individual and society. They interfere with natural cause and effect.
Yet well-parented children know that the pleasure of a snow
day means school work must be done at another time. They know that chores come before play. They know that living in a family obligates
children and adults to help run the household.
This connection of pleasure with responsibility reflects the “real
world.” However, through science,
marketing, and government programs, our society works to create the life of
pleasure with no responsibility. The
real world is too cruel, so we must save people from it. This sounds as appealing as having ice cream
for breakfast and a staff of servants to do all the chores. It might seem good in the short run, but
ultimately someone must pay for it. The
servants must be paid, and poor health comes from a sugar-rich diet.
Therapists deal with those deprived of the proper
pleasure/responsibility balance in childhood.
Those with no pleasure have been overworked; they have been robbed of
their childhoods. Meanwhile, those with no
responsibility have never had to work; they never mature beyond childhood.
Our society moves steadily toward the latter. Fewer people take responsibility because
fewer people have to. Looking at today’s
pro sports, government, and prime time television, one must ask the same
question: Where are all the grownups? There must be a pill for that.
