T

he article “The world can change, but values can’t” (The Jakarta Post, March 10) by Giovanni Comparini is truly thought-provoking.

Looking at the past to plan for the future is a rather modern perspective. In the Christian-oriented West, the prayer was: Give us today our daily bread; which today can be interpreted as consumer “necessities”.

Feudal systems restricted individuals to plan for the future as wars were always on the horizon and they bore the brunt. Also, incurable diseases ravaged populations that today can be combated with a pill.

In the past, people with dementia were put away in asylums but today societies look after their homeless.

The basic value of family is being challenged: arranged marriage replacing love-oriented marriage, same-sex marriage and adoption, IVF and gender selection, polygamy has been replaced with divorces and remarriages, creating new families: A new lifestyle.

Once a disgrace, children born out of wedlock are today the norm. This is the great revolution of the 21st century and religious leaders should take note of what society deems to consider “values”. Men and women no longer want to put up with “misery” in their private lives.

The role models seem to be entertainment stars (free-wheeling), politicians (corruption/wealth) and royalty (Monaco/Sweden/Spain on morality; the Norwegian Crown Princess was a single mother  before she married her prince).

And clergy of every shade being exposed regarding sexual abuse of minors have undermined every “faith” on planet Earth, thereby challenging “values”.

Olga Pitcairn
Pennsylvania, the US