If you changed the "meant to be" for a "could be" I would like your description. But that is not the doctrine of original sin you are describing. It is simply the natural human condition, often surpressed in children, of desiring to change and become more than we are at present, and to grow up into the world we live in.
Nothing that I've ever seen would lead me to believe that the natural human condition involves much desire for self improvement. I would agree that most teenagers have a rebellious streak, a desire to break the rules for the sake of breaking the rules, and wish to say "In yer face man!" to authority figures. Whether this comes naturally or arises from the way our current society raises teenagers, I'm not sure, though I lean towards the later.
But was is sure is that human beings have natural desires towards overeating and overdrinking, promiscuous sex, drugs, anger, violence, pride, self-righteousness, jealousy, and other bad things. Not every individual experiences all these desires, but every individual experiences some. Moreover, many in our society have been lead to believe that these things are inevitable. They're in our genes, or hard-wired into our brains, our they occur because someone else oppressed us, or we had a bad childhood, or some product of our circumstances is at fault. Small wonder that we've seen soaring rates of depression in modernized societies. Small wonder that many people's lives are destroyed by these things.
The doctrine of original sin, on the other hand, tells us that these things do not come from our genes, our upbringing, or anything else. Instead, it says that we inherited sinfulness as a result of being born into the human race, but our creator did not intend for us to be sinful. Rather, our creator wants us to triumph over sin. Hence the doctrine of original sin is a trumpet blast calling us into battle against our sinful natures.
Original Sin has far more odious connotations which are used by the unscrupulous to pour guilt upon the innocent. The idea that a child is "born in sin" for instance is ridiculous, unobservable, and corrupting. It is a self fulfilling prophecy foisted upon the most vulnerable ultimately as a way of trying to turn them into the sad creatures we have often turned into through the same method. And it is a doctrine that has infiltrated so deeply into our western societies that even atheists can grow up believing that children are "naturally naughty" and need to be "disciplined" into goodness. Augustine is the anti-christ in my opinion.
Well, if you know anybody who became a good person without ever being disciplined, I'd like to meet them. Personally I see our society's problems as being exactly the opposite. We have a self-esteem movement which teaches us to heap praise on children and adults regardless of what they do. We have a school system that celebrates children who deliver the worst academic performance in the industrialized world. We have advertising which tells us that we deserve to have everything, even if we can't pay for it. We have politicians who constantly give us favors and send the bill to future generations. Everywhere we look, we have problems resulting from the fact that wer'e
not willing to criticize ourselves.
Every study that I've ever seen on the topic has concluded that high self-esteem correlates with poor academics, violence, crime, bullying, and long-term unhappiness. By contrast, St. Francis and the great number who lived and thought like him surely believed in original sin, yet they were happy people.
It,s simply about what God wants. Why?, because He knows best.
