In neighborhoods across the country, families are noticing a troubling shift: young people are increasingly drawn to instant pleasure and self‑expression without the grounding of reason or moral purpose. This cultural drift, the article argues, stems from an education system that prioritizes technical skills and ideological conformity over the formation of the intellect and the will.
Why the Will Falters
Traditional thinkers such as St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the human person is a unity of body and soul, and that true freedom is exercised when the will aligns with objective truth. Modern schooling, however, often reduces learning to information processing and social conformity, leaving students ill‑equipped to distinguish between apparent and real goods. Without clear intellectual light, the will more readily yields to fleeting passions.
The Role of Physical Labor and Delayed Gratification
Previous generations learned virtue in the workshop, the field, and the marketplace. Repeated physical toil—planting crops, building structures, enduring hardship—trained the will in fortitude and temperance. Those experiences taught that enduring temporary discomfort can lead to lasting good. In today’s comfort‑focused environment, such resilience‑building opportunities are scarce, leaving the will under‑developed and more susceptible to short‑term temptations.
Autonomy Redefined
Contemporary culture often redefines autonomy as the right to follow desire wherever it leads, provided no immediate external harm occurs. This narrow view can open the door to harmful behaviors, from theft to sexual predation. When the pursuit of prestige, comfort, or consumer satisfaction is presented as the ultimate good, the language of “self‑care” and “authenticity” can mask a refusal to rise above the sensory appetite.
Consequences of an Untrained Will
When the will is not trained to choose the greater good, desires become insatiable. Small compromises—choosing cake over health—can lead to larger ethical shortcuts, neglect of family responsibilities, and the normalization of destructive practices. Aquinas warned that vice begets further vice, and today we see a culture increasingly tolerant of evils that promise short‑term relief or status.
What Parents and Churches Can Do
The remedy begins with a return to classical formation. Education should aim to develop the intellect’s habit of seeing reality as it is and distinguishing true goods from apparent ones. Parents cannot delegate this entirely to secular institutions; the home and the church must reclaim the work of shaping judgment through repeated, ordered choices. Grace perfects nature, but human effort remains essential for acquiring virtue.
Building a Freedom That Honors Truth
Metanoia—repentance and transformation—remains possible because the rational soul retains its natural orientation toward truth and goodness. Each decision, whether to indulge in a fleeting pleasure or to endure temporary discomfort for a higher purpose, is an arena where the person either reasserts the primacy of intellect and will or slides deeper into slavery to passion. Embracing reason, consent, and disciplined effort restores the true freedom for which we were created.
Original reporting: Must Read Alaska (Anchorage) — read the source article.
