I keep trying to figure out how a nation such as ours, built on freedom and personal responsibility, can all of a sudden want the government to regulate their lives. Being somewhat a cross between a libertarian and conservative, I have the firm belief that I can manage my life and my money quite well on my own, thank you very much. Have I made bad decisions in my life? Sure thing; and some have caused me some real unpleasantness. But because the consequences weren’t much fun I learned not to do some things twice.
My mother told me two things that have always stuck with me. One, you are now 18 and we, your parents, have done all we can to teach you right from wrong; it is now up to you. We will always love you and will always be here for you, but if you screw up, YOU and only YOU will pay the price. Two, one time when I was being, to be perfectly honest, a real shithead, my mother told me I will always love you, but right now I do not like you as a person. WOW. My growing-up years were far from perfect and my parents weren’t perfect either, but I did learn to stand on my own two feet. And I learned that my actions had consequences, and whether sometimes good or sometimes not so good, those consequences were always mine. Oh yeah, and when signing a contract always read the fine print. It’s binding and it’s yours.
What I see now are 24-year old “kids”, college-educated “kids” who are, in their parents words, “just kids who don’t understand.” Huh??? I’m not talking any complicated abstract idea, I’m talking simple things like respect for someone else’s personal property. Yet these same helpless little darlings play their parents like fiddles; new cars as soon as they are old enough to drive, and every whizzbang new something that comes down the road. These are not folks in the Obama “rich” category, but the oh-so-put-upon middle class who are having such a hard time making ends meet. So while both parents work, the “kids” can’t even bestir themselves to mow the grass and as the home , yes, the actual home, falls down around their ears, the parents rail against the government that it just hasn’t done enough. The “kids” have the perfect example – in their parents – of the throw-away mentality. Buy new and if it breaks, toss it and buy more new, and if we run out of money it’s the government’s fault. I think what shocked me the most was the day one of my neighbors, the mom, called here about a potential problem in the neighborhood (which was nothing more than the meter reader and the high-tech “gun” used to read the meter; but I digress, and we do have some issues) and she said we would need to watch out for each other. No worry for them since all they had was junk, but we had “lots of nice stuff” and the envy/jealousy was quite evident in her voice. We are also part of the middle class that Obama wants to help, but really, really prefer he didn’t.
One other blurb I hear way too often is, “I always know where my kids are”; they are “at home playing games on the computer and I’m so proud of them, at least they aren’t out smoking, drinking and having sex”. The smoking/drinking/sex thing must be the new “I’m a good parent” war cry. So what are they saying? That if the “kids” leave home to do “anything”, it will include smoking/drinking/sex? Is that the narrow world these parents live in? Maybe it’s just me, but that whole concept seems just a bit unhealthy. Funny, too, but a good portion of these folks are overweight, as are the “kids”. And I mean quite a bit overweight; sex would at least provide some exercise. Well, so would mowing the grass. Other kids are so pale and skinny they look like death warmed over; mowing the grass would help them, too.
One more bit before I sign off. A couple years ago my state seemed to have a rash of accidents involving children and ATVs; really young children who, while on their own or riding with a parent, were injured or killed. Hideous thing to happen and I truly feel for the parents…except for, and up to the point where, the hue and cry went up from the parents that the state needed to make a LAW to require all sellers of ATVs check and make sure that there were no young children in the family, and no young nieces or nephews who might at some point have access to the “big” ATVs. All because the parents obviously couldn’t tell their 5-year old that, no, they did not need to be on the ATV alone – or at all, or couldn’t figure out that a 3 year old might not be able to hang on tight enough, or realize that said parent might screw up and roll the thing. They, the parents, wanted to absolve themselves from any responsibility and put that responsibility – by government fiat – on to the sellers of said ATVs. Such stupidity, thankfully, got voted down.
Are all “kids” and parents like the ones I described above? No, but there are enough of them for this to be more than just a little bit scary.
Makes me wonder when the damn “how to raise kids” manual will be issued by our critters in congress.
Personally that would have helped me almost 3 decades ago.