It's Strange...

what can come to you while you're deeply engrossed in eating breakfast and working a crossword puzzle. I saw a word (I don't remember what it was now) that reminded me of the rash of school shootings that have recently occurred in this country, so I asked myself,(I do that a lot) "Self, why is it, do you suppose, that there are so many more school killings now than there were years back?"

"Well," I answered myself, (I also do a lot of that)"It's really pretty obvious, isn't it?"

Actually, it is pretty obvious why so many kids go off the deep end these days and start shooting up the place. Think about it.

Emotions is what causes people to do crazy things:i.e., greed, love, hate, lust, but most of all, resentment and revenge. When a particular kid is separated from the pack or sleighted for whatever reason, even an imagined sleight or reason, he feels alienated and picked on and the natural reaction is either to ignore it or respond to it. (Whatever 'it' is)

OK. you say; so what? Does that give a kid the right to kill people?
No it doesn't but we don't necessarily do things because we have the 'right' to do them. He does things because he doesn't fully understand the consequences of his (or her) actions. Super Mario was killed by me seventy seven million times and he, on occassion, still comes back for more!

What!!!..you say - you mean it's the fault of video games!!!
No, I don't say that.

Well, what do you say then? Well, (I say that word a lot..-it's kinda like 'er' or 'uhh', a concentration hesitation-((neat ain't it-I just made that up)))what I'm saying is; kids think they are,-and they are,- the center of the universe and the world revolves around them. So, when something doesn't go their way, they have a right,-no, an obligation,- to change those things to suit themselves. A problem is, they do not know just what it would be that suits them so they try crazy things sometimes,-even killing people. (who, unlike Mario, WON'T reappear later)

When I was a kid and wanted to say somewthing to one of my elders, ofttimes I was told to 'shut up until us grownups finish talking'. (Kinda like Little Jimmie Dickens having to "Take an old cold tater and wait")

I learned that grownups are SUPPOSED to take precedence and have authority over children. That's the way it's supposed to be and that's the way it was when I was a kid.

Now, I just made the first relevant point. Kids do not dictate to their elders.

Oh, and, by the way, neither I nor any of my siblings or friends or relatives have killed anyone because of ...???...for whatever the reason was that the kids of the last few years have killed people, either innocent or people guilty of-???-who knows what, if anything.

I could philosophize or theorize from here to Georgia but it would eventually boil down to the fact that kids nowadays are made too much of and ruined by grownups who put pressure on them by treating them like they are as smart as the grownups and have the same responsibilities, ergo, the same privileges as their elders and, when things don't go their way, they do not know what to do about it, so, instead of just forgetting about it and playing jacks or shooting marbles, they kill other kids. (or grownups)

In short, it's the way they're raised that causes them to kill. Instead of having their mouths slapped for swearing or getting their butts whipped for lying, they're 'reasoned with', pampered and petted then given a cell phone and permission to get their genitals or tongues pierced, rewarded for their naughtinesses.

Kids are/are not smart. A slap to the mouth for swearing is easily understood (although not particularly enjoyed) by a child, whereas, getting a cell phone or permission to have things pierced because you told your mother to go get screwed, is not easily understood by an unruly child; ergo; are/are not smart.

Now. all of this is coming to something, isn't it? Yes, it is. The fact is, kids nowadays are allowed to believe they are smarter and more grownup than they really are and they don't know how to handle that. And they do too many things at school other than learn and, when one of them is prevented from doing one of those things by his or her peers or a teacher and is not included in with the crowd, that kid lashes out however he decides to.

When I was a kid, we learned reading, writing and arithmetic, some art and music and physical ed. (and recess) And that was it. If we didn't go to school, the truant officer came to our house and got us.

We didn't dance; we didn't engage in political rallies; we didn't protest our teachers or parents or anybody else. We learned and were educated. If we were lazy or stupid and didn't learn enough to pass to the next grade, we did that one over again. And that was the way it was supposed to be and that was the way it was.

I guess, what it all boils down to is this; parents are way too lenient with unruly kids and schools allow unruly kids to continue. When I was a kid, unruly kids got suspended. There were fences around the schools and, if you weren't attending a school, you weren't allowed on the school grounds.

We need to get back to educating the kids and forget about forging them socially. That should be up to the parents.

And we should say a prayer at the beginning of class and a pledge to our flag. That would go a long way toward teaching them values.

I'll have to continue this later. I just heard on the news about a new killing spree by a pre-schooler who has a pierced navel and Folgers coffee in her baby bottle!

Later...