Posted by
Glenn Flowers on Saturday, December 27, 2008 10:50:16 PM
Most of us baby-boomers, and those who came before us, were taught a lot of things by our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even preachers. Even the school teachers of those days went out of their way to teach lessons you wouldn’t find in the textbooks. The single-line admonitions ring in my ears to this day, "If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all," or "Quit complaining about your little problems, there's people who don’t even have what they really need," or "Turn about is fair play", "You reap what you sow", "Pretty is as pretty does", "You’ll appreciate it more if you have to work for it". I call all of these Simple Secrets, I even wrote a song by that name. These "old school lessons" are so simple and so old that most kids of today just shirk them off when they hear them saying, "That’s so old, everyone’s heard that before" or "That’s too easy and simple, there are better rules to live by".
That’s also why they are secrets, no one really believes they are that relevant anymore. But these simple secrets have been told and retold for hundreds of years or more, some having the Bible and other holy books as their source. They have lasted through time because THEY ARE TRUE.
One of the most important lessons that is, apparently, not taught to a great number of kids anymore is that you appreciate more those things you have to earn and work for. The lack of this once common sense is, I believe, at the root of why there are so many who hate America and what she stands for. These kids who bash the president and anyone defending him, and use the most vulgar and personal profanity, were born and raised in an environment that taught that America is the country where you are free to do and say almost anything, the Constitution guarantees it. They’re told how greatful they should be to have been born in the greatest country on Earth. And that is, for the most part, all true. But they are also lucky enough to have parents whose main goal is to give their children a better place and make it easier on them than they had it growing up. The result is absolute freedom, in their mind, with no repercussions and it’s all free.
How much do children, or even adults, cherish something they receive for which they paid nothing nor worked for? How many kids are given an allowance and not given chores to perform? How many of today’s adolescents dare to challenge their parents’ authority and still come home to their snug, sweet smelling bed every night? How many times have you heard a youngster scream at a teacher, "Go ahead, hit me. My dad will sue you for a million bucks!"
Without any responsibility or even education regarding the history of the struggle for freedom, they have no appreciation for what they treat with disdain and ill will. It’s like the bicycle they were given for their sixth grade report card that now lays rusted and bent at the backyard fence. Heck, they have a new 25 speed mountain bike now, and didn’t even have to get good grades. They just whined until it became easier for the parent to shell out the dough than put up with the kid’s constant wailing and bad moods.
So, what we have now is an entire generation, or two, that, to the greater degree, don’t give a damper about the Constitution, don’t understand its premises or its uniqueness, and don’t know the first thing about the enemies striving for its destruction. They can’t imagine that life will ever be anything other than the utopia funded by Mom and Dad, and they could not care less. "Ain’t botherin’ me".
The Constitution and what it means to Americans has become a simple secret that the newer generations just don’t appreciate or even think about. It’s just a 200 year old piece of paper to them.
Then, they are all grown up and able to vote. Need I say more?
Glenn Flowers