By Vince Teresi
Randy Traeger said today’s children are living in a toxic culture. He is especially concerned about the harmful behaviors – drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, sexual promiscuity and pornograph, self-mutilation, bullying and poor academic progress.
A long-time coach and teacher, Traeger has seen how post-modernism, rapid technological developments, the struggling economy, the disintegration of the family and a fractured political system have taken their toll on the health of our society – especially our children.
“Just like any infection, the weakest and most vulnerable parts of the body show the effects first,” Traeger said. “In every community across America, the young are suffering the horrible effects of our societal illness.”
Traeger said we live in a drastically different world than the one our parents and most adults grew up in. Young people face a lot more pressures and distractions.
A Mount Angel resident and a coach at Willamette University, Traeger has been working for many years to teach the importance of virtues. The executive director of The Virtue First Foundation, Traeger tackles head-on the moral challenges facing families and young people through his weekly internet broadcasts and national speaking engagements.
His foundation’s mission is to promote virtue to help rebuild the character of America’s youth.
With the recent release of his book, Building Character, One Virtue at a Time, Traeger has one more tool to share his message. Written in a down-to-earth conversational style, Traeger’s book is thought-provoking.
“Readers will begin to form a more virtuous self-image as they identify who they truly are, where they belong and where they need to go in order to be contributing members to our society and to live fulfilled lives,” he writes.
The book contains short stories and essays concerning 52 virtues along with quotations from people Traeger respects, representing many fields of human experience. The non-denominational book can be used as a guide for anyone who wishes to teach the importance of virtues.
“While Americans might disagree about a lot of things, it seems we are united by a basic set of socially objective virtues that transcends religious and political differences,” Traeger said.
“We can and should use this common ground to help us reconstruct and solidify our moral foundations. It’s no wonder so many of us are ‘sick.’ In order for our teens to gain emotional, social and spiritual health, we need a model for life that is based on virtue,” he said.
To steer our youth away from a society dominated with “garbage-can philosophies,” Traeger said the book can be used to discuss the power of leading a virtuous life.
Traeger feels that “virtue is what the vast majority of ordinary American people instinctively want…to belong to a world in which people care for one another. They are alienated by our selfish society.”
“What mother doesn’t want her son to be respectful? What father doesn’t want his daughter to be chaste,” he said. “We should use this common ground to help us re-construct and solidify our moral foundation.”
To learn more about Virtue First or to purchase a book, visit www.virtuefirst.org or call 503-910-2072.
