Sermon : On Ethics and Today’s Youth

During a recent carnival, our parking lot was filled with hundreds of children and adults enjoying rides, game booths and delicious food. In the midst of this sea of humanity, one of our Religious School students looked down at the pavement. Much to his surprise, he found a $100 bill, which had apparently fallen out of someone’s pocket. Picking it up, the preteen brought it to one of the event organizers. Within minutes, the money was returned to its distressed owner.

When the boy and I talked about the incident a few days later, I asked him if he ever thought about just pocketing the money or using it to pay for all kinds of adventures at the carnival. He replied: “Maybe for a few seconds, but I had to do the right thing. So, I quickly turned it in, hoping that the person who lost the money would claim it.”

As reports of this incident made the rounds within our congregation during the next several weeks, the youngster became the recipient of conflicting messages.

While he received notes of praise and thanks from several synagogue leaders, most of his friends gave him a hard time. “After all,” they said, “with so many people around, no one would have known that you found the money. Had you kept it and used it to buy tickets for rides, games and lunch, everybody would have assumed that your mom and dad gave you the money to spend. Boy, are you an idiot!”

While their comments haven’t shaken the student’s resolve--he is convinced that he had no choice but to do what he did--the reaction of his friends has really upset him. He’s not hurt that they consider him foolish; rather he wonders about their collective conscience.

I also wonder why a high standard of ethical conduct seems to be missing in their lives. Are we now experiencing a generation of children who genuinely believe that it’s all right to be dishonest as long as you’re not caught? If so, where did they acquire that belief?

Many adults blame “the media” for most of our society’s woes. Whatever seems to be the source of their worries about today and tomorrow, especially when they encounter someone with profane ideas or degrading behavior patterns, people tend to blame newspapers, magazines, books, radio, television and films for burdening them with the frightening thought that “the worst of times” is at hand.

But I disagree. I am convinced that their fears, as well as the scorn heaped upon our honest student by his jeering peers, provide us with ample evidence that it is parents who have failed to convey to their children an appropriate code of ethics.

Perhaps mothers and fathers talk about “right and wrong” and “truth and falsehood,” but what are they teaching by example? I wonder what children overhear when their parents are discussing a situation in which someone has apparently “gotten away with it.” No matter what “it” might happen to be, the last thing we ought to do is consider that person to be “clever” and then declare that the wrongdoer is something other than a cheat and a thief.

It’s not the media’s fault if chaos and confusion reign supreme. They hold up a mirror so we can see ourselves as we really are. And the image we project at the moment is far from attractive.