There is a poem vivid in my imagination. It awakes memories of the colorful people that define so many of my experiences. This poem is a celebration of what it is to be living, breathing, a flesh and blood human. This poem is “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman. Whitman writes not about the abstract term “humanity”. He writes instead about the real, raw experience of being in the presence of people. In his words is an appreciation of all people and the image of God in each of their bodies and souls, whether he knew it or not. Whitman also didn’t know it but he wrote this poem about my family.
Human relationships.
Tags: Life
Dating on campus is officially dead.
But dating served a real purpose. Criticize it all you want, but in its heyday, it was the socially accepted pathway to American marriage. Dating allowed young men and women to explore the possibility of a life together without diving headlong into a unbridled sexual passion. The rules of dating were understood. Yes, the rules were sometimes broken. But they were strategically placed like guardrails along a highway which keep inexperienced drivers from careening off the road into a ditch.
In the last article, we mentioned a report about attitudes and behaviors of American college women regarding their relationships with men. The practice of hooking up — a sexual encounter with no expectation of commitment — has become widespread.
Not everyone is hooking up. In fact, most college women are not. But the practice and acceptance of hooking up (whatever that means, and the vagueness is often deliberate) has profoundly impacted the social climate.
The book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, written by Joshua Harris in 1997, has been a source of lively debate among Christians in America. Harris makes a case that young people should exercise great caution in dating, and consider giving it up altogether, until they are ready to seriously consider marriage.
Whatever position you might take on this, the debate might just be moot.
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