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Rights vs. Obligations
By mstrohm | February 12, 2010
Today on the radio a mother talked about her teen son who went shopping with a group of friends at a local mall. Meeting his friends for lunch he discovered that he was not charged for one article of clothing in his bag. Upon announcing his frustration with having to return to pay for the item he was soundly ridiculed by his friends. They reasoned that since he did not create this problem his friends insisted that it was his “right” to keep the item for free. Oddly enough, when the boy disregarded his friends advice and took the item back to the store the clerk was annoyed with the boy and told him that he was making her look bad for missing the one item.
While I believe and know that there are certain rights we must hold onto, I find it distressing with the emphasis on “rights” to the exclusion of being taught about obligations. The radio announcer who was educated in a Jewish, private school stated that he was told his education was unique because religious education emphasized one’s obligation based on God’s laws, but secular education emphasized “rights” based on man’s laws.
I have been thinking about rights vs. obligations all day. Even if we do not have a legal obligation, there are many “obligations” based on God’s laws. Some of our evangelical friends may want to emphasize “grace” and excuse our “obligations” but I think the Jewish radio announcer had it right. We need to keep in mind biblical mandates or obligations which lead us to do “what is right” over claiming “rights.” Parents would do well to teach children the difference.
Mark Strohm
Topics: From Mark, Parenting | No Comments »