It seems so obvious. If you ask a student from the fourth grade if he can jump off a cliff he will say "yes" but at the same time he knows that he shouldn't because he will kill himself. This is very simple, but apparently it is not.
One of the good things about being a priest for so many years on different continents, in different countries, is the opportunity to experience a variety of thoughts. It allowed me to see many different points of view on problems that are the same for everybody. I noticed that the more "sophisticated" society the more people think they can do whatever they want and can. In Papua New Guinea people were looking at what should be done for the village, for their families, for their communities. Because I left Poland in 2003 there was a lot of influence from communism still, so mostly people were very careful about everything. But the big change came in the UK and mostly in London. The young people were doing very strange things like drugs, crazy driving through the city at night, casual relationships, because they could do it. It was all just to have excitement, just to do something to show that they can. Unfortunately, they had to pay the price and that surprised them the most. They thought that just because they can do whatever they want, they should do it. Unfortunately, very often it was too late to change and many of those young people will have to carry on their mistakes for the rest of their life.
I am talking about it because for the last few years I have the impression that the same is happening now in the USA. Watching young people in Denver, Highlands Ranch, now in Woodland Park, I am almost convinced that they are falling in the same trap that I saw in the UK. They are more focused on what they can do than on what they should do. Nobody teaches them the lessons to be able to make a right choice, to see what they should do, to see what is worthy to be done (fortunately there are some parents doing this). This wide opening on "I can" dangerously leads them to lose the perspective of the price that will have to be paid. It is even more dangerous when it comes to faith and the meaning of life. They can say "I do not believe in God" but do they see the price they must pay in a godless society? Our college students are perfect examples of how much damage is done in them because nobody ever told them how to make right judgments.
We have to show them what they should do, what really matters. This "should" shows us right direction, because we should give praise to God, we should respect our neighbor, we should work honestly, we should make healthy families. This was the wisdom of the Ten Commandments: "You shall not ..." even if you can, because the price to be paid will be so heavy. So let us do what we should do, not what we can do.