The missus and I go out with our boys and their significant others as frequently as they're willing to have us. We love hanging out with them (and hope it's mutual). We usually end up at our favorite Mexican place and we usually end up imbibing in moderate quantities of adult beverages. (Hi, I'm Mr. Brutally Honest and I'm a Margarita-coholic... but I digress).
One of the things you'd hear me say frequently at one of these gatherings should you be privileged enough to join us is something I say when the conversation has gone down a path that causes me discomfort. Of course, too often, I'm the one who took us down that path but again, I digress.
What you'd hear is my loud exclamation of one word. The kids are quite familiar with it and at times beat me to the punch. That one word is "boundaries" usually said with emphasis and more loudly than those 
sitting next to us probably care to hear. The kids know that I believe boundaries exist for reasons and that the removal of same is fraught with consequences. I think they also know that my source for this belief is Holy Scripture.
All of this to set up this news I came across today as I scanned the headlines:
According to new data released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 19.7 million new venereal infections in the United States in 2008, bringing the total number of existing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S. at that time to 110,197,000.The 19.7 million new STIs in 2008 vastly outpaced the new jobs and college graduates created in the United States that year or any other year on record, according to government data. The competition was not close.
The STI study referenced by the CDC estimated that 50 percent of the new infections in 2008 occurred among people in the 15-to-24 age bracket. In fact, of the 19,738,800 total new STIs in the United States in 2008, 9,782,650 were among Americans in the 15-to-24 age bracket.
By contrast, there were 1,524,092 bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States in the 2007-2008 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That means the total number of new STIs in 2008 outpaced the total number of new bachelor’s degrees by nearly 13 to 1, and the number of new STIs among Americans in the 15-to-24 age bracket outnumbered new bachelor’s degrees by more than 6 to 1.
While the CDC estimates that there were 19.7 million new STIs in the United States in 2008, data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the total number of people employed in the country actually declined by 2.9 million during that year.
The CDC said the new venereal infections contracted each year cost the nation about $16 billion.
Staggering.
And evidence that society isn't exclaiming "boundaries!" as much as society ought.
There's a price to pay for sexual freedom.
God help our young people.
God open their eyes to the reasons for Your boundaries and to the treachery being foisted upon them by a culture that does not have their best interests in mind.
"In the realm of evil thoughts none induces to sin as much as do thoughts that concern the pleasure of the flesh."
--St. Thomas Aquinas
