Editor,
Some of the cultural changes I’ve experienced over the 63-year period of living in Smithers:
My parents moved to Smithers from Ontario in 1955 wanting to find a good place to raise their family. This town was a safe and caring community to grow up in. Being kids we roamed the town and perimeter hills without a thought of harm.
I attended Muheim Elementary School. The school day started with the Lord’s Prayer and then the lesson would begin. Though far from perfect, we were living in a country where our laws were generally based on Christian principles and most people respected the law.
As time moved on the world’s cares did not pass us by. I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Even the Town of Smithers put out a pamphlet called ‘Eleven steps to survival’ and how to prepare in case of war. Then in the mid-’60s the “hippie” movement changed the culture a great degree. In the ’70s we had the coming Ice Age predictions. In the ’80s we had the world overpopulating propaganda. In the ’90s the big concern was the shrinking ozone, and the past two decades there has been the global warming phenomenon, which has since developed into climate change.
Through these decades our moral compass has changed. Society has decided that we should live as if God is dead and just do our own thing. Although there has always been brokenness and hurt, the changing morality over the past six decades has taken a toll. We can see the increase in marriage breakdown, drug use, pornography, etc. People are looking for meaning in their lives, but not wanting to look in the right place.
God has given us the direction and answers in His Word, the Bible. There He shows us that none of us has what it takes to save ourselves or this world. But if we follow Jesus Christ we find forgiveness and everlasting life. With that knowledge we are safe and cared for in the times ahead.
Henry Penninga
Smithers
