"This is not the 1700's" my good friend said to me; "the laws and the way people did things don't work for these times."
I have to ask if we have really 'progressed' though. The only thing I have to draw on is my own experiences so reflect with me here for a minute. In the 80's I was in Jr High School. I held the record for the most demerits and suspensions for a female ever. Always a rebel and loving to set records, (I hold a few desirable ones too) you can imagine the hell my peers and I put our teachers through. No matter what there always remained an element of respect that is seriously lacking from the next couple of generations. I believe we did not progress, but we failed; and royally.
There are hundreds of documented cases of teachers who are literally in fear for their lives; and some end up fighting for their lives. In our times that would not have happened. Anyone who is in anyone in education remembers Mr Sullivan of the Moody School in Lowell. The city named a school after him, may he rest in peace. Those were the days that when you were caught spitting spit balls at Mr Mac's blackboard, or stealing the snacks out of someone else's lunch; the stiff strike on the back of the head was to be expected.
Alas, in our zeal to protect children from corporal punishment we have given children the right to live without discipline. We have encouraged them to live by their instinct, to trust their gut, stand their ground, and speak their truth. Civil unrest was unavoidable. We created them. We taught, nourished and grew them.
All that we have known, and all that we have built with our structure and bureaucratic fair-play and tactical maneuverings have created a safe haven for a whole generation of 'free thinkers'. Free to think and be and do whatever they feel the universe has lead them to and there is no stopping them.
When we were kids you knew not to mess with the big families, because if you pick a fight with one you pick a fight with them all. If a bully was unfair, there was a whole neighborhood to stand up and someone surely would. After a good let go of some energy a resolution or agreement was understood and so be it, that's how it was in the neighborhood forever after. No one was excluded. We learned to deal with each other, our baggage, their baggage, and the neighborhood was.
There is no 'neighborhood' any longer.
The next generation now stand behind the laws we created to protect them. They do some totally random different things that we couldn't have ever imagined.
Even bullying is formally against the law. Forcing another person or child to do anything that they do not want to do is actually illegal. Maybe thats why we have millions of children and young adults glued to mind controlling video games. Maybe a good smack in the head and a violent reminder to get off the Video game wouldnt have been a bad idea after all. What do I know? I know nothing. Our children, the next generations, will lead the world to something we cant even imagine though, that is a guarentee.
Do we trust what we have created is something good?
or are we all anonymous?
Whats your truth? Put your two cents in
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