Worth It

February 16, 2018

“I hope she’s worth it.” At first, it was funny, emblazoned in black spray letters across the side of a late model white Nissan sitting on the flatbed we passed on the Thruway. However, those five words, revengefully funny at first, reveal a disappointment and hurt that cut to the heart. 

For most of my adult life, I’ve witnessed society descending into a moral and ethical morass that my grandparents would have been shocked to see. Back in the ‘60s, I remember my grandfather disgustedly turning the channel on the black and white TV, declaring that whatever he had seen was “smutty,” a word I haven’t heard in years, and a sentiment that has all but vanished.

Human depravity has always been with us, but usually without the blessing of society at large. Premarital sexual activity wasn’t invented in the ‘80s, but the dreamy sexual revolution of the ‘60s that was supposed to free women has ended up a Harvey Weinstein nightmare. Broken homes, broken hearts, and broken lives are the price tag we are paying for our determination to live without restraint. It all sounds so innocent and inviting at first, but the doors we open in our quest to fulfill all our imagination can conjure up open to an abyss from which there is often no return.

Was she worth it? No. Not when it forces children to choose one parent over the other. Not when women and children are thrust into instant poverty as their income is slashed while expenses increase. As Linda and I drove on, we reflected on the choices we make every day to love, forgive, yield and bend. A home to which we both want to return at night, children who are serving God and raising our grandchildren to do the same are abundant reward for never having had to ask the question, “Was s/he worth it?” Not by a long shot. The more important question is, “Are we worth it?” The answer of course, is a resounding, “YES! More than worth it!”