Meet Joe • Recent Press

2008

February 28

Psychology: Society sends some boys down the wrong path

By Scott Smith

Despite the negativity you might hear from political candidates, particularly during an election year, I believe we are fortunate to live in one of the safest, most thoughtful and compassionate societies in human history. The vast majority of Americans are peace-loving, law-abiding, generous individuals who are trying to do their best while making their way in life. Unfortunately, given recent trends in society, one might wonder how long this will last.

One of the greatest challenges our society appears to be facing today concerns the healthy development of young men's identity. We seem to be staring at a cultural crisis as we try to adaptively define masculinity in an era of mass media saturation and parental absence. Our culture now routinely exposes our young men to violent video games, out-of-control sports figures, and music and movies with sadistic and depraved themes. Much of this material is being eagerly absorbed by young men, many of whom already live without adequate adult involvement in their lives.

One has to wonder what the eventual cost of this phenomenon will be and whether we may already be seeing the effects of these trends in the apparent rise of sociopathic behavior.

In this context, the words of Joe Ehrman, a former Baltimore Colt who spoke at this year's recent Annapolis Touchdown Club dinner, were particularly meaningful. Mr. Ehrman, who played 13 years for the Colts football team, described being shaken by his younger brother's death from cancer, and ultimately being forced to look at himself and ask what life was really all about.

Since leaving the National Football League, Mr. Ehrman has worked as a pastor and focused on his mission of helping to teach young men what it truly means to be a man. He characterized three destructive myths that pervade our culture and send young men down the wrong path in adulthood. The myths that bombard young men from preschool on are centered in the idea that the true measure of a man can be found in his athletic ability, in sexual conquests and in the accumulation of wealth.