AS I was preparing a few thoughts on commitment and its diametrically opposed alternatives of escapism and fanaticism, I came across a quotation from the American writer Ernest Hemingway.
"A serious writer may be a hawk or buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl," he wrote.
His use of the great Australian adjective decades before our tourist authorities got into trouble did not upset anyone, but his claim threw me a bit. But I decided to persevere on "commitment" even if it does sound solemn.
Some good judges wonder whether there is as much commitment in young adults as there was 40 or 50 years ago. Is this justified?
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Certainly, no one is criticising Australian youth as fanatics – those who are so blindly and unreasonably dedicated to a cause that they disregard or trample over others. G.K. Chesterton, the English Catholic writer, claims, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
We don't have many youthful fanatics. However, there are more young escapists than there used to be. This is tragic because hard drugs damage the human personality and body more quickly than alcohol. Most of the homeless are now young.
However, even when we leave these sad and extreme examples to one side, statistics suggest that more people today find commitment difficult.
Fewer people are marrying inside or outside churches, promising themselves to each other until death, and the average age for entering marriage is higher. While the birth rate has stabilised, it has fallen to well below replacement level.
Although the situation varies in the Catholic Church, and is better in some places than 10 years ago, examples of radical commitment, such as entering religious life or commencing study for the priesthood, have fallen. Numbers in political parties and volunteers have also slipped. Why?
The epidemic of divorces has often shaken the self- confidence of the children involved, and many are hesitant to commit to a permanent relationship.
This is a major factor.
Most young Australians live together before marriage: they want "to try before they buy". Ironically, the divorce rate is higher for them than for those who do not live together beforehand.
Our market economy encourages commitment to success, profitability and competition, but discourages wider social commitment, and is hard on family life.
Political correctness urges rights rather than responsibilities and advertising encourages instant gratification, selfish individualism.
None of this produces the unselfish enduring commitment which works under the surface producing good children and citizens, when there are loyal, conscientious and hard-working parents, teachers and communities.
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