People Watching

One of my favorite things to do is go to a public place or an event and simply watch the people around me.  Sometimes they amaze me but most of the time, I find that the gene pool is slowly turning into a cesspool.

Okay, so maybe it’s not the gene pool that’s turning bad, but rather what our society is turning in to.  We are raising kids to not respect authority, to not really care about their behavior because they know that nothing can be done to them, and quite frankly, we are teaching them that they are entitled to receive anything that they want without that pesky little inconvenience of earning it.

Allow me to explain.  Thursday night, I went to a high school football game to watch my daughter perform her duties as an athletic trainer.  While I was there, the kids in the stands were shouting and chanting things like, “Kick their Ass, Kick their Ass” and other obscenities that when I was in school, the Principles or Assistant Principles would have been all over us for doing.  There are countless other examples that I have seen through the years as a volunteer parent at my kids’ high school.

One of the parents in the stands commented on the chanting going on and said, “When I was in school, we didn’t dare say those things like that, at least not chanting it at a school function, the Principles would have been all over us!”

I said, “Yes well, back in the day, the Principles would have pulled you from the stands and either, suspended you from school, or gave you a good paddling.  These kids aren’t afraid of getting in trouble anymore because they know that nothing really bad can happen to them.”

Gone are the days that you could get suspended from school and not be allowed to make up your work.  Now, instead of students getting suspended (they lose funding if a student is absent) they put them in On Campus Suspension, which is no fun, so that one is not too bad.

Gone are the days that a really bad kid, like a BULLY, would get kicked out of school.  They just get sent to an alternative school, with other bad kids and after they’ve done their time, they come back meaner than before.

Gone are the days of corporeal punishment.  While I’m not a fan of this method of punishment, I do have to admit that it does tend to keep the kids in line if it’s absolutely necessary.  It is a great deterrent for the average kid to actually be afraid of their teacher paddling them.

Now what we have are kids who know that there are no real consequences for their actions.  More and more parents aren’t taking the time to parent their children, so kids are coming home to houses with little or no supervision.  Kids aren’t being taught to respect their elders, in fact, they are taught that they have a right to rebel, or that they have a right to be heard.

Try explaining to a kid that there is no right to be heard.  Sure you can speak, but our constitution does not guarantee anyone the right to be heard.

Any way you look at it, I see many kids that are disrespectful and unaware that they are spoiled and pampered and if left to fend for themselves, well, they will get nowhere.  I guess my point is that by and large, kids today don’t realize that they have it good, they take, take, take but give little back.

Sometimes, I look at the up and coming generation and I think, “God help us”.  I guess that means that I’m getting old because I'm sure my parents said the same exact thing.

Until next time.