whose illusions are you living?

barack obama, in his book, the audacity of hope, wrote something that struck quite a cord with me. it was this:

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In this slow, fitful process of sorting out what I belived, I began silently registering the point in dorm room conversations when my college friends and I stopped thinking and slipped into cant: the point at which the denunciations of capitalism or American imperialism came too easily, and the freedom from the constraints of monogamy or religion was proclaimed without fully understanding the value of such constraints, and the role of victim was too readily embraced as a means of shedding responsibility, or asserting entitlement, or claiming moral superiority over those not so victimized.

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i wonder whether this is a natural phenomenon for every college aged person, to go through this process of questioning beliefs until the point at which he or she falls into some kind of idealistic martyrdom. i know that i myself am guilty of embracing the role of victim. i've seen others do the same. particularly striking to me was the point about proclaiming a freedom from constraints "without fully understanding the value of such constraints" because i've witnessed that, too.

i think it's so foolish of us to believe that generations before us have not also questioned those same authorities that we question, and broken those same rules that we wish to break. i, being a creature of habit and routine, i like order and i like rules. i don't find that constraints hold me back, but rather illuminate the line past which i might hurt another person. therefore, i can be and do so many things that are completely fulfilling, and i don't risk damaging any of my relationships, with people or with god.

i admit, there are times when i do question the current doctrine, such as laws against gay marriage. but, there are certain simple truths that i don't think can be argued.