I Just Don't Know Anymore

I have been thinking about the decline of our nation as a whole, and I can see some patterns that have developed that might explain some of it. When I was growing up if you messed up at a neighbor’s house you got your "rear end" tore up, then you got one from all the neighbors between the original infraction location and your home, and when you finally made it home your mother was on the porch with the phone with the 25 feet long curly cord and you could hear her talking to the neighbor at which you began this journey and she would be making plans for yet another "whipping". Now I did not get many of these when I was young but the few I did get I remember very well. When did spanking your child become abuse? When was it "OK " for your child to call social services after they received said "whipping" and turn you the parent in. When did we start having to give the school system permission to discipline children. I must have missed it. Was there a memo sent out that I was not told about. I remember the days when if you screwed up at school you were spanked with a board. It was renamed a "paddle" but basically it was a short boat oar. I remember the foreboding sound of the pop of the paddle outside of the class room because unless you were in the class where the infraction occurred you did not know it was coming until the first "pop." I remember how skilled some of the teachers had become by giving a little up angle to the "paddle" and hooking you right under the butt cheek where it would lift you up a little. What about the days when by the sound of the pop and speed between "licks" you could tell what teacher was administering the usually well deserved punishment. I read a story today about neighbor that disciplined a child for shooting her dog and blinding it. She gave the young man a few smacks to the rump and was shot twice by the boy’s mother less than an hour later. She was not seriously injured but yet the stupidity of it is beyond measure. I am not saying beat them, but for goodness sake. I see people in the store with children that are acting up, which has now been changed to "acting out", to allow for drug companies to charge you for pills to control your children so you do not have too, and hear other parents saying under their breath "I would tear {him or her} up." No you wouldn’t. I think I have spanked my oldest daughter once in her life, She can tell you what day it happened and why it happened, and it was many years ago, and henceforth both of my children are getting wonderful grades in school and have never been disciplined verbally or otherwise in school. But they know this, There are standing orders at their schools for discipline whether it be the paddle or otherwise. And interestingly enough, after a little and I mean a very little explanation, they understand why. Another thing is that everyone the history books teaches our children to respect lies to them and they know it. Presidents, political leaders, even religious leaders. In the information age it is easy for our children and ourselves to find truth. If their was television or internet when Franklin Roosevelt was running for president, would the people have elected a President in a wheelchair? Interestingly enough the modus operandi of the common Humanus Americanus(yeah I made that up) is to investigate after the fact. Try getting ahead of the game every once in a while. Open your eyes, close your mouth, and learn something now and then. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. That is a good thing and a bad thing. The bad thing is that it is hard for us to change the way we do things. The good thing is that those who need to be scrutinized have a hard time changing the way they do things too.