This phrase has been coming to my mind often lately. Are we going "to hell in a handbasket"? Are we on a fast path to disaster? Let's take a look.
One theory is that the phrase came from the times in France when baskets were used to catch heads decapitated by the guillotine. Did their souls, like their heads travel swiftly "to hell in a handbasket"? Most relevantly, Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette met this humiliating end. The king and queen were spending money on luxurious items without care for the state of the rest of the country. When the people raised their voices and arms against the French monarchy, they had the power to change the future of their nation.
As I said, I am daily bombarded with images around me that suggest the values that once held our communities to higher standards have recently become tarnished. Christianity lays these standards out in the Bible, Judaism in the Torah and Islam in the Qur'an. Irregardless of which faith you look at, the emphasis is put on values and passing these values on to our children. I was not raised to follow any religion, but I was raised to have values. I worry that if our communities and families do not work together to give our young people values, then hell is precisely where we may end up.
I am a middle school teacher, so I spend time with a lot of the young people who will one day be the decision-makers in our community. Sometimes I justify their behavior by saying, "they're young still, they'll make better choices when they're older". However, then I turn on the news or the latest reality show and see that many adults are also behaving irresponsibly. In my opinion, it is scary to think about all of the people who are of the opinion that, "it isn't wrong unless you get caught". Examples abound in the housing market, the business world, and the celebrity scene. Need I go on?
So what are we to do?
