I watched an interesting documentary in which a Russian
scientist took a group of wild foxes and selectively bred them for three
generations. She selected the most aggressive ones from each generation and put
them together and took the most docile ones and interbred them. By the third
generation she had created a line of fully domesticated loving pets and a line
of the most blood thirsty snarling beasts that you could imagine. She did this
all in 3 generations of selective breeding.
That documentary got me to thinking about humans and the
evolution of modern day society. There were geneticists in the early twentieth
century who believed that humans could do much the same thing and create a
super human race. Fortunately we know how that ended. Unfortunately, there is
some tendency to see more popular societal traits proliferate and I sometimes
wonder if we have not shifted our center of gravity away from the traits that
defined our “Greatest Generation” – those parents of our Baby Boomers.
I seriously wonder if there is a correlation between our
shift from an agrarian society to a metropolitan society and what many see as a
declining social ethos. There is no doubt that urbanization has resulted in a
secularization of society. Could this become a trend leading to a breakdown of
civil structure as we know it? We already see the resistance to modernity and
the catastrophic consequences. Could there be more to come?
Loss of Community
Many people long for the values expressed in small town
Americana. Neighbors coming together to help each other, not just in times of
crisis, but to raise barns and help harvest is a norm desired by many. Eating
dinner with neighbors who drop in is commonplace in rural America. Could you
imagine an urbanite eating with or even dropping in on a neighbor? That
communal relationship was lost in the transition to the city. We often
characterize the movement to the suburbs as a city sprawl but I wonder if it
was in part a desire to regain some of lost Americana?
The community lost in the transition away from our farms
appears to have been replaced by unifying areas of interest. Those interest
areas are outside of homes and families, unlike the rural scene. Now the
workers center their non-family interests on the workplace, the union, or the
local sports team. While the rural breadwinner always involved their family in
all activities, our urban breadwinner has developed a polarization that
separates family, job, and interests. The latest workers seem to be revising
their priorities towards interests, job, and then family. Even more
disconcerting is the observation that family has been split into sex and
relationship. Ergo, the future could see the complete demise of the traditional
family, or at least the family values as we now know them.
A consequence of diminished family values is the loss of
community. Is this directly correlated to the shift from agrarian to urban? It
is impossible to be anonymous in a rural setting but it is easy to blend into a
sea of humanity. In that sea you can avoid responsibility and rationalize your
non-involvement in needs and issues surrounding you. In a rural environment you
would be held accountable by your family, friends, and neighbors not only for
your deeds but for your failure to act when it was expected that you would. How
does this bode for the future? Is it possible that our urbanization will
decentralize in an effort to regain community? Will our future communities be
virtual instead of physical?
Re-centered Value System
Our values seem to have become redirected in the move from
the farm to the city. Survival on the farm meant having the family and
neighbors there to count on. In the city culture it seems that survival means
climbing over those around you. Rudeness is rampant in the urban environment
while graciousness and courtesy are the rules in rural America. The dog-eat-dog
mentality and extreme competitiveness seen on city streets would not be
tolerated in the agrarian community.
If there is any truth to the evolutionists’ theories then we
will see future generations becoming more competitive and aggressive since
those traits are characteristic of the more successful city dwellers. In the
city those who are the most ruthless appear to be the ones held in highest
esteem and therefore the ones most emulated. The meek and mild will be pushed
out and subdued in the natural selection process.
The trend that is emerging is one of self-centeredness. That
trend when combined with a community trend that brings people together in
priorities that progress from interest, income, sex, and relationship to the
ultimate “What’s in it for me?” does not predict a future nurturing cityscape.
Will this direction become self destructive (forgive the pun)? Will the family
structure continue its decline?
Legalistic versus Moralistic
The codification of English Common Law continues to remove
common sense from the legal equation. The farmer always knew that he was
responsible for the right half of the fence that separated his land from his
neighbor’s. It did not require an act of the legislature. When the farmer went
to the city he lost his space to the infringement of people, sights, sounds,
and odors. Now there were rules for everything and if a rule did not exist then
people didn’t seem to know what to do. It seems that in the city environment
people will always push the limits to see how much they can get away with, or,
perhaps more accurately, how much they can take that belongs to you.
In an agrarian society you did what was right, and that was
taught to you by your religious leaders. What was right and what was wrong was
ingrained in your upbringing. In the city environment, what was right and what
was wrong was dictated by the various cultures living nearby. Leaving your
possessions outside did not mean that you had abandoned them, or did it? If you
came up with a great idea, was it yours or could it be taken by someone who
overheard you? Different cultures have different answers. One thing is for
certain, we should not have to be told what is right and what is wrong. If we
do, then we need to realign our moral compass.
A nation without vision will perish (Prov 29:18)
How can we rebuild our community? How can we re-center our
value system? How can we become more moral and less legalistic? It seems that
we need visionary leadership. Prophets of doom and gloom are easy to come by.
It is easy to say here’s what is going to happen if you don’t change your ways.
It is much harder to state what we can achieve and here is the path to get
there – Come follow me.
I do not have the solution, but I see the problem. Is there
no one who can lead us?
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