Students ought to begin every new search for knowledge and ensuing action with a simple exercise of asking oneself several questions about the subject at hand.  A basic question would be: Are the factors in this study related to contradictions or paradoxes?  If we assume that the differences are paradoxes we will likely go farther in finding the truth of our search.  Note the following assertions, and determine where they fit on a continuum of thought from truth at one end to paradox/contradiction in the middle and falsehood at the other end.  How are they addressed for resolution in society?

  1. We believe our own families are fine, but family life in America is perceived as dysfunctional.
  2. We believe television is important to our homes, but popular television quality is declining so eroding or diluting family values and virtue. (What do the violence, carnal and reality shows do to us?)
  3. We believe in the benefits of materialism, but materialism is distorting our value system negatively.
  4. We believe in equality for the sexes, but denigrate the roles that must be met in effective family life.
  5. We believe moral decay may be the greatest threat to the family, but we do little to improve the moral standards of self or society. (We are more likely to avoid practical moralisms than defend them.)
  6. We believe that children are important to society, but we evade responsibility to them. (We destroy more fetuses than we dare admit, and permit barriers to nurturing cultures for dependents.)
  7. We believe that working mothers may endanger their children by neglect, but the number of employed mothers increases. (More women in 2010 were wage earners than men – a first time in history.)
  8. We believe that children are better prepared for life in a guided environment, but we create an increasingly casual environment for them. (Three of four respondents believed this statement to be true.)
  9. We believe that schools ought to provide life education, but have omitted many factors necessary for effective education. (Do we really concentrate on the ability to think, and improve our habitation?)
  10. We believe that families are flexible to cultural and societal changes, but we say families are breaking up because of unguided changes and selfish individualism. (Has community lost meaning?)
  11. We believe that marriages ought to be for the lifetime of a spouse, but half of the marriages break up in the years following the wedding. (Percentages of divorce are greater for second marriages than first.)
  12. We believe in respect for elders, but we betray them in family neglect and attitudes as well as forming negatives to their counsel. (Senior generations gave current ones their lives and infrastructures.)

The above statements were found, at various levels of acceptance, to be true by the majority of persons polled.  There was no effort in the poll to refine the thoughts of the respondents on the issues, of whether or not the statements were contradictory or paradoxical.  It appears that publics want to express themselves on issues, and find out what the general beliefs may be, but too few make real effort for correcting even acknowledged negative conducts.  There is common tendency to blame others for the state of this or that, when the individual exerts some fractional meaning, for good or ill on the total result (consequences).  God, knowing the extent of the matter (force of mass) asks individual responsibility and fortitude to represent right (righteousness) by the individual even if it requires unusual courage.  He promises to aid the person in gaining that courage, and the inner assurance that it is worth the witness even if the mass (corporate society) does not accept it, and may resist, even create laws that defy the values of God for man.  We tolerate the competition, leaving it to the Referee of the game of living to determine penalty.  It is our privilege to live and witness the message, the thought and conduct emanating from the message for the purposes of a loving God who is the author of all truth, human and divine.  The analysts, pundits, and general public tend to confuse statements about human paradox/contradiction. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020