PSA

I have a cat. My cat has a different view of the world than I do. To my cat, the entire universe exists to satisfy her whims. Disagreement is not tolerated. There is no patience. There is no courtesy. The fact that I'm on the laptop typing an important email is irrelevant when she decides she wants a warm lap. That laptop will just have to move and I'll have to type around her. Better yet, she wants to be petted at this moment, so I'll have to type with one hand. She is the ultimate in selfishness.

She's a lot like human children. They come into the world with no sense of tolerance, patience, courtesy, or any other device that takes others into account. Of course, it is the job of parents to teach them that they are not the center of the universe. We are to teach them manners, courtesy, and so forth. Don't interrupt while I'm talking to someone. Use your inside voice. We need to train them not to be the ultimate in selfishness.

There is, of course, a fundamental difference between kids and cats. Cats are not morally self-aware. There is no sense of "rules", no awareness of "right and wrong". Humans know, either intrinsically or by education, what is right and what is wrong. They then choose, consciously, to do right or wrong. The cat doesn't choose to be good. If it fits her wishes, she'll mimic "good" behavior. If it doesn't, she won't.

And, of course, we would never want our kids to be like the cat. It's horribly offensive when a child is not taught to take other people into consideration. Courteous, considerate children are wonderful to be around. Kids focused purely on self are not.

And then we run into this. Perhaps you've seen it. It's the Dear World campaign. (It's a PSA, a Public Service Announcement -- really?) It's put out by an organization called Girls Inc. Now, I understand the idea. They want to encourage girls to be all they can be, to not limit themselves because they're female. Okay. I'm fine with that. But this commercial is not quite that. The commercial is filled with young girls from early elementary school up through high school. They decide to send a "dear world" letter ... by vandalizing a wall and by littering with thousands of red pages. Okay, okay, it's a commercial. They're not actually encouraging vandalism and litter. No, they have a message.

The primary message is "The only person I want to be is me." No heroes. No one to look up to. No one to follow. No one else's values. No one else counts but me. I am the only one that matters. "No, no," you say, "you're assuming too much." Am I? What else do they say? "My dreams won't be pushed aside. I can't let you or anyone stand in my way." Those are quotes, not perceptions. The message is clear. "I want what I want. I will not take anyone else into account. No one else is as important as I am. It is wrong of anyone to make me think of others, to consider setting aside what I want for anything else, to suggest that there could be something more important than what I want."

Do you remember the classic, It's a Wonderful Life? George Bailey is the hero of the film. George continually surrenders his dreams for others around him. He is heroic because he does this. At the moment of conflict, he believes himself to be a failure because he never did what he wanted. He is shown that his life made a difference, which made him "the richest man in town." Girls Inc. and that mindset would eliminate the George Bailey's of this world and remove the concept of self-sacrifice and replace it with selfishness as the ultimate "good". They would call good evil and evil good.

As a public service, then, we are encouraging girls to be just like cats -- the ultimate in selfishness -- except cats have no moral culpability, and people do. Cats face no divine judgment; people do. In our efforts to cast off false limits, we are encouraging them to eliminate any sense of genuine goodness because genuine goodness is always other-centered. So, tell me again ... how is this a public service?