This past week has been Spirit Week at my school. It is quite an event. Each day the students have a different dress up style: comic book characters, class colors, occupations, etc. It is fun to see all the creativity. Additionally, at the end of each day there are activities in the gym: balloon stomp, tug-of-war, ostrich races, lip sync, etc. Yesterday’s event was the “Boy’s Poms” routine. Yep, boys from each grade spend three weeks practicing a dance routine much like you would see at halftime of many high school or college basketball games. It is entertaining to say the least.
However, a close friend of mine and fellow school employee hates this activity. I mean he really hates it (I have labeled him the “Spirit Week Grinch”). He is convinced that these boys show more commitment to this event than they do to any athletic team and it is one small sample of the lack of “manliness” in our school and our society. While I do not share his dislike specifically for this event, I do concur with his concern over young men in our society. Below are some comments I made in an email dialogue with him. Prepare to be offended…
“America is slipping into mediocrity, related much to the decline of adventurous, courageous, secure young men who take risks and work hard. This stems from a generation of (Baby Boomer) parents who were given to pleasure (drugs/sex of the 60s), excessive comfort (in response to the ugliness of the Vietnam War), laziness (due to the “non-physical labor” occupations in business and tech of the 80s-90s), luxury (growth of two-income homes) and an attitude of entitlement.
The children of these parents (our generation) have little understanding of achievement and therefore have achieved very little, save for business and technology. However, such recent business/technology success bred from excessive greed and lying, cheating, and stealing in business practices and corrupt economic policy – which now may bring this country to ruins. We do not know the importance of competition, commitment, and achievement, nor how to pass it on to our children.”
“Ever wondered why texting/facebook/cell phones amongst teens are so popular? I believe young men are insecure, lonely, and bored. Getting a text message, a facebook friend/comment, or a phone call makes one feel wanted/valued.
True security and fulfillment comes through achievement – which only occurs via hard work and one successful avenue for this is athletics (and something to be said for a loving father/mother and home life – something rare indeed).”
I am concerned that all over our society, our young men (myself and my age on down) are taking the easy way out. We let our marriages fail, we let our kids dictate right and wrong, we let our companies, products, and services compromise. When we achieve little, we feel little, we fight for little.
While I did not mean for this to do so, it directs me to this current Washington fiasco. Do we really want our government overseeing and infiltrating so many aspects of our economy? Do you have trust in your elite, educated, ruling-class congressperson to manage your life better than you can? This spending bill is one more example of taking the easy way out! Yes, let’s take a temporary handout to prop up our economy so that we can continue to live the way we want – who cares about the lost freedoms and taxes that we and our children will face for years and years and years to come? Do you really think that China and the rest of the world will gladly forgive our debt when we can’t repay it? Bull-oney!
Don’t be deceived! Fight this government power grab! Contact your congressperson and then vote them out of office next time you get a chance! Let’s achieve something! Let’s endure this economic hardship without someone nannying us. Let’s go through some tough economic times. Bring it on! Dog-gonnit, we’re Americans and we don’t back down from hardship. Our fathers and forefathers did not die so we could someday empower a socialist government to nanny our lives. The United States has freedom – the rest of the world STILL WANTS TO COME HERE because we are free: Free from excessive taxation (or so it was to be), free from an “elite, educated, ruling-class”, free to be creative, be risk-takers, and pursue the life we were designed and called to pursue.
Remember, after all my ranting and raving, my main point is that we need a Savior…I do not have the answers, nor do I have a “young man” quite yet (just a few years away) in my household for me to parent – I’m sure I’ll be shut up quite quickly and proven a fool when that day arrives.
