Life Without Boundaries by Marilyn Morris
While recently speaking at a mother/daughter seminar, I challenged the audience to consider the following scenario:
"What if tomorrow morning you woke up to the breaking news that all traffic regulations and laws had been declared unconstitutional. After all, this is America. No one has the right to tell you how to drive. Therefore, starting immediately 
there would be no more stop signs, no traffic lights, no speed limits - and driver's licenses would no longer be required to operate a vehicle."
A young lady seated in the middle of the audience quickly spoke up, "Wait a minute. If there is no need for driver's licenses, then that would mean tomorrow morning I can drive a car."
"That's right," I declared.
A big smile came across her youthful face as she simply replied, "Sweet!"
"But does anyone see any problems with this concept?" I asked.
I anticipated the mothers jumping in at this point and expressing their concerns about this ridiculous scenario. To my surprise it wasn't the mothers, but the daughters who were speaking up.
"This would never work," one of the young ladies announced.
"Why?" I asked.
"There would be absolutely no order on our roads or highways. It would be total chaos."
Then another girl chimed in by saying, "There would be wrecks everywhere."
"But people have wrecks every day," I argued.
"Yes," she continued, "but this would be far worse if everyone was suddenly given the freedom to drive as they pleased. The injuries and death toll would be far beyond anything we could imagine." The mothers and daughters all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Okay," I said. "So what I'm hearing is while those of you under the age of 16 would love to start driving tomorrow, most of you seem to believe this would be a disastrous idea. And perhaps having some order in our lives is best for society." Once again, heads were nodding in agreement.
I paused for a moment and then explained that if we could step back in time about 50 years, we would witness a similar event that actually did occur in America where stop signs and age limits were removed. But this event had nothing to do with driving a car. This was about sex.
If you look back a few more years, just prior to the 1960's, you would find a far different lifestyle than we experience today. This was a time when the majority of teenagers (guys and girls) entered adulthood as virgins. Adults seldom lived together before marriage. And the public consensus was that sex should be saved for marriage. Pregnancies among unmarried teenage girls were rare. With the recent discovery of penicillin, STDs were no longer a common health threat, and marriages seldom ended in divorce.
Then the 1960's ushered in the Sexual Revolution with all its splendor and memorable slogans: Free love! Free sex! If it feels good, do it! . . . Gradually, over time, stop signs and age limits were removed.
Fast forward to the present day and you will see the impact of the Sexual Revolution. We now live in a society with relatively few sexual boundaries and where teens are deciding when they are ready to engage in sexual activity. And while this must feel like a euphoric lifestyle for today's youth, it's worth pausing for a moment and looking beyond the obvious freedoms that resulted from the Sexual Revolution and focus on the ramifications of this event.
As a result of our sexual freedom and lack of boundaries, America now holds the dubious distinction of being the nation with the highest unwed, teen pregnancy rate in the Civilized World. We're dealing with an unprecedented STD epidemic that includes over 25 significant diseases. Many of today's STDs have no cure and several are debilitating and/or deadly. And our divorce rate has escalated to over 40 percent.
Now here's a question your must answer for yourself: Is the sexual freedom America is now experiencing worth the price we're paying? Some would say yes. Some would say no. But regardless of you answer we can't go back in time as a society. There's no getting around the fact that sex is now a multi-billion dollar industry that has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our lives. Pandora's Box has been opened and we as a nation cannot force it to be closed.
But that doesn't mean you have to be a participant in this lifestyle. It's your choice every single day whether you choose a life of sexual freedom with no boundaries or you choose to self-impose your own personal boundaries as a means to fulfill your dreams, protect your health, guard your heart and strengthen your character.
Be forewarned, following the path created by the Sexual Revolution is enticing, but the casualty list is staggering. On the other hand, following the path of self-discipline and self-imposed boundaries is extremely difficult, but the long-term rewards can be amazing!
According to research, when compared to those who have had sex before marriage, those who choose to avoid sex until marriage are more likely to:
- Have a better relationship with their parents.
- Avoid addiction to alcohol and drugs as well as problems in school.
- Fulfill their dreams and goals with no worries of STDs and no concerns of pregnancies before marriage.
- Be happy and less likely to be depressed and consider suicide.
- Enjoy a happy and stable marriage that does not end in divorce.
- Have a more enjoyable and fulfilling sex life once married.
The choice is yours - No boundaries or self-imposed boundaries?
Sources:
Akerlof, et al. "An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States." Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1996.
