The American Spectator

We were discussing driver’s licensees for teenagers and the question of raising the minimum age. I threw in my two cents by referencing the cognitive abilities of adolescents. I pointed out three characteristics: 1.) Adolescent judgment is not of adult caliber (they often don’t know when to back off when the red flags go up), .2.) They display an inability to link future consequences to their present actions. And 3.) They display an avoidance of personal accountability for their mistakes.

In reply, Ira M. Kessel compliments my “thoughtfulness” and then states: “Yet the same thinking does not apply to having schools throw condoms to students? Just asking, Mike.” Being that I hadn’t mentioned anything about handing out condoms to teenagers either way, I’m puzzled why this challenge was thrown my way.

Be that as it may, for my part I think handing out condoms is a horrible idea. However, I also generally find that one’s answer depends on what you think is the real problem. Is the problem that teenagers are having sex and having babies or is the problem that teenagers are having sex? One perspective is aghast at all those unwanted infants plus the contaminant diseases. The other perspective is concerned at the widespread infraction of divine/natural law and the emotional damage adolescents suffer when they are confronted with adult issues they are not prepared for.

I am far more concerned for the potential emotional damage teenagers expose themselves to in “premature” sexual activity than the prospect of surplus infants. For this apprehension condoms offer no defense. Yes, poor judgment, insufficient capacity to link present action and future consequences, and avoidance of personal accountability do come into play with teenage sex.

Of course, there will always be those who will tell us that accessing the body parts of others when they were sixteen or thereabouts were some of the more wonderful moments in their lives. How can something that turned out to be good be wrong?

The answer is that there is a kind of evil which is not truly wicked in itself. Evil often is the illicit use of something intended for good. Sex in itself is meant for good. It is its wrongful use that does harm to one’s spirit. So it is not surprising that something good would come out of adolescent sex. What would truly be surprising would be if nothing good came out of it.

The tragedy is we have lost the language in our culture to seriously speak to one another about hazards to a teenager’s spirit — hazards to anyone’s spirit for that matter. The Germans have an expression called “unhealthy health.” What it refers to is the phenomenon of gravely ill persons suddenly appearing to have an upturn in their wellbeing only to die afterward. Handing out condoms to teenagers may appear to be a positive, proactive solution; but it really is a sign of death.