Pretty good day today. Productive and got to see a work friend I haven’t seen in a long time. I follow his many adventures on Facebook and foursquare as he checks in across the country. He’s a good guy and I like hearing from him.
Since we are in transition between the post season of football and the start of spring practice for baseball, all that is left for me is the occasional good match up in basketball. However the Bulls look good this year and if the coach would apply some consistency, I think they could make a run this year. Spurs have the best record in bball this year as well but I don’t really get to see them play up here.
I am going to start yoga soon. Yep! Yoga. Saw a friend who is pretty deep and adept at it and he looks awesome! He runs a yoga and Tai chi place in Knoxville. I know I am not using the right terms so if you want to look it up and check his credentials he has a web page and Facebook page. His name is Dan West.
Anyway, I will be starting. It looks very interesting to me and can be done rain or shine. I also like the idea of the quiet calm meditation as you exercise. That really appeals to my old fat butt.
I was talking with some of the guys at work today and we got on the subject of how kids are having so many problems with bullies and the high rate of suicides and I boil it down to one problem. You may think I am going to say parents. Nope. Tertiary to the main problem. You may say no God or faith of any kind to guide them. Nope. Wrong again. That I just a symptom of the problem.
My thinking is they have lost or never gained their coping mechanisms. Why did they lose this? Toys. Yep. Toys. Not too many. Not that they are spoiled. It’s the TYPE of toy. How many kids do you give a gift to and the first thing they ask is “WHAT DOES IT DO?”
What does it do? Back when we grew up, you got a hot wheel or matchbox, a doll, some play clothes, a stick or box and you made do. You went outside and you made them work and used your brain! You didn’t get out a dinosaur that walked, roared and operated its mouth with a remote control and then put it on your dresser. You had to cope and work it. Come up with your own stuff and work together.
You built cities in the dirt with sticks and your vehicles. You brought a friend over and you made a neighbor city and connected them with dirt highways. Then you traded cars and fought over stuff and learned to COPE! When you were disappointed, you learned from it and went with it.
You had camp outs and went to the park and played baseball and basketball and tennis. You played hide and go seek not Kinect or Wii. Mario and Pacman didn’t have crap to do with anything until you went to Pizza Hut for that once in two week shot at eating out. You went to McDonalds and had a burger and fries with a regular coke. NOT A TUB OF COKE, A VAT OF FRIES AND A CHUNK OF SUGAR RIDDEN COATED SAUCE! And that wasn’t splurged on either.
Even teens now, they go to Applebee’s and Chili’s or Olive Garden maybe even TGI Friday’s. We went to McDonald’s, shared gas money, split what was left to get a shake and fries that we shared. WE DIDN’T GET TO BLOW $30 on a Friday night date BEFORE we went and spent $30 more on a movie! We sat on the hoods of our cars at the Midland Shopping center as we watched the other kids drive around and show their rides off. We met girls from other schools because we thought they were different than the girls in our school. We split those fries and licked the salt off the box to stretch the gas money so we could cruise the shopping center some more.
Then for me in the south, we went home, slept and got up early on Saturday and went fishing for the fish fry Saturday night. Unless there was a singing at church. We had regular lives and worked for our money as we enjoyed each others company and learned how to be a contributing part of society. We enjoyed being around our elders and learned from them. We did what we were told because if we didn’t we would get panged with a hammer across the head!
I could go on but there are many, many reasons these kids are having troubles with bullies, being teased and prodded. Bullies aren’t new. They have been here forever just like nerds, geeks, jocks and preps. It was just different names in different times. We failed the kids brought from our generation and the ones before us in that we relied on technology to teach and nurture our children. That’s why they don’t truly VALUE love or even know what love is. They don’t know what sex is because people are too scared to discuss it. And to tell a kid to be scared of strangers caused them to rely on authority figures so much that THEY now abuse our children because it is a perfect scam to treat them that way.
So I will now be partaking of my root beer and slim Jim as I watch Dave and relax so I can go to sleep. I have a big week end ahead in preparing for my drive and then driving. I am looking forward to it and getting excited. I love road trips.
XO ILY YM
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