Explanation

Reader Kyrie asked for clarification of my last post, and I thought that was a fair request.

We do a good and right thing to teach children that they are unique and valuable. Scripture teaches us that each person is known by God from before his or her first breath (Psalm 139:13-18), and we're all idiots if we don't take that to heart. Made in God's own image (Genesis 1:27), people are set apart from every other created thing. Not only that, but we are desperately loved by God, so much so that He paid an unimaginable price so that we could be in a relationship with Him instead of suffering eternal separation (John 3:16, Romans 6:23).

We do children a disservice, I think, when we teach them that they are special. See: if I am special, I deserve to be treated as such, right? My demands should be met, no matter the inconvenience to others because I'm special. I'm the most important person, after all, so any inconvenience to me is intolerable.

Now, once we've taught a society of children this same message, can you see the road we're on? There's a diminished sense of personal accountability, one of the consequences of which is massive consumer debt (sound familiar?). There's the increased sense of entitlement, one of the consequences of which is... you guessed it - consumer debt.

When we teach someone they're special, and then reinforce that notion by our actions, we set them up for failure on a personal level. And when we do it on a societal scale, we set that society up for failure.

So, that's my explanation. Thoughts?