Break a leg

Preface:

This is a bit more serious that most of my posts.  As I've said before.. I never expected that anything I write here would redound to the betterment of mankind.. I always felt that if I could just get a few laughs by allowing others to take a stroll though my particular take on things then this forum would have accomplished its goal.

But I have been watching... for about the past 30 years now, with great interest, what has been happening in our culture and especially within our schools with regard to so much violence.  And I'm not just talking about after-school fights.  We've always had those and probably always will.  What I'm talking about is the utterly psychotic rage and emotional breakdowns that seem to be occurring almost on a monthly basis.  Something has gone terribly wrong and no one seems to be able to get a handle on it.

This is not a rant about gun control.  This is not a rant about putting God or prayer back in the schools.  (Frankly, I'd be happy if they could just put Education back in the schools.) 

This is an observation drawn from what I call a 'video tape' view rather than a 'snap-shot' view of some rather stark changes during this period and what I feel is the core cause... as well as how it might be addressed.  Because up until now we just seem to keep pouring on more of the same things that have caused the problem in the first place.

We didn't get here over night.  You don't change an entire culture over night.  And so it will take some time, if people are willing to at least explore .. how to begin to heal this wound.. because what we're doing now simply isn't working.

It's about a 10 - 15 minute read.  No pictures this time - this subject is too important.

Thank you for reading with an open mind.

BREAK A LEG:

Other than a theater reference wishing ‘good luck’, there can be no good connotation for the notion of breaking a leg.

Imagine if you will, a boy comes home from school one day having been abused by a bully.  His leg has been broken.  The parents, as any parent would be, are deeply concerned and want to know how this happened.  The boy goes on to explain that there’s this big kid in class who picks on others... and sometimes he gets a little rough.

They listen with great concern and empathy, and as the story unfolds they are making haste to get him to a doctor as soon as humanly possible.

Good call… or so you’d guess.

The doctor examines the boy, and while looking down at him and rubbing his chin, he says: “Yep, that leg is broken alright.  And there’s only one clear fix - we need to...

…. break the other leg.”

I’m sorry,,,  what??

“You heard me – I’m a doctor…  I'm in charge and clearly know what I'm doing.

 The other leg has to be broken....  we should get him prepped for the procedure.”

Let’s get serious for a moment..   of course this is an absurd scene; and of course exaggerated to make a point:

We are losing an entire generation.. and will continue to lose subsequent generations to the fiercest bully of them all if we keep trying to fix the problem with the same ‘remedies’ that caused us to lose this generation in the first place.

When I was growing up I lived in a world where if you were having a bad day at school, or trouble with an assignment, the teacher could pull you aside and put their arm around you and give you a little pep talk – sometimes a shoulder hug and perhaps a little kiss on the forehead just to let you know they understood, and to let you know that everything was going to be alright, and that together… you were going to get through this.

They might have used humor to defuse the situation, or perhaps draw from personal experience about a time when things weren’t going so well for them and how they dealt with it.  But either way, the goal was to make a human connection.  You knew that you were not alone. 

They took the time and made the effort so that you knew and felt, that as a person… as a human, your problems mattered to someone else… that there was someone in authority who not only understood, but cared and could help do something about them.  It meant that you were Connected on a human level.

And it was because of this connection that the very same teacher who patted your head one week could look down over their glasses the next week and let you know that they were disappointed in you... or that you were not living up to your full potential and this meant something to you. 

It is because of that same connection that they had earned the moral authority… and it was because of this connection that what that person Thought of You…

….was important to you.

These people set the bar high because they wanted the best for you and understood that no one ever “rises to low expectations”.  It was a good system.

But … no more.  

Sadly, that kind of caring or concern on the part of a teacher is at the very least considered ‘suspect’, if not total perversion.  So in an effort toward self/ or career preservation, those teachers must disconnect: 

“I’ll be damned if they think I’m going to put my life and my career on the line for that nonsense in this day and age… not for a crying student… I just can’t”  And so..

… no more Human Connection.

When I was growing up it was not uncommon, in fact a regular occurrence for an adult to make casual conversation with a child in the grocery store line: 

“My, what a handsome young man… what are you going to be when you grow up?”  Or “What a pretty little girl! … How’s your summer going?” 

There was a time when parents would actually smile as they watched this time-honored exchange… of youngsters learning to interact with adults because they understood that this sort of ritual was essential to human development; Children desperately need this level of interaction and connection with adults as part of the maturing process.

Sorry - Not anymore.  That sort of thing is now considered ‘suspect’ as well. 

“Why, only a Pervert would initiate familiar conversation with a child out in public like that!”  Or “They’re just CRUISING for their next victim.. that’s what that pervert is doing!!”. 

And so rather than face that level of risk…  Adults sigh… and give up… and stop making the effort… and leave the child alone to text in peace.  And so.. no more Human Connection.

When I was in high school and the star football player made a touchdown he could slam that ball down in the end zone and dance to his heart’s content.  The whole community rejoiced with him. These types of reactions are a completely natural human response.  It was just a given:

“Kid who makes the play has earned the right to show off a little.”

Sorry - not anymore. 

If someone had told us back then that there would come a time when that sort of thing was not only frowned upon .. but would actually be Forbidden – we’d have reckoned them utterly mad.

But here we are – in the year 2014, when supposedly we’ve ‘come a long way, baby’, and actually doing everything we can to separate our kids from natural human emotions and responses.   Responses and reactions that were given to us by the Creator as a part of who we are as humans. 

Think about this – to live in a culture where it is wrong to CELEBRATE ACHIEVEMENT or victory at a high school ball game….  and instead…

Ready for this.......?? 

Glorify the Kartrashians. 

Seriously??

Doesn’t anyone see what’s happening here??

And what have we instituted in place of natural human responses and growth patterns?

A system supposedly designed to ensure that no one is ever offended, nor will ever have their feelings hurt again!  A culture where no teacher will ever be considered a pervert for simply wanting to help or mentor a child. 

A system which completely separates our kids (and the rest of us, for that matter) from the Human Connection.

A system that is completely counterintuitive to who we are as humans.

A system ultimately designed to produce robots who will never question 'The System'.

The reasoning given goes something like:  “Now we mustn’t celebrate victory excessively…  we don’t want to (and I’m not making this up!) hurt the feelings of people on the other team…  we don’t want to offend the other side.”

NOTE:  The feeling of Triumph over Challenge and Adversity is God-given.  It is the feelings which come with defeat that inspire us to press harder.. to seek answers.. to fine-tune our performance..  to Get Better.

And so rather than celebrate the Human Spirit..  we crush it.

As a culture, for whatever reason, we have worked hard, , , in fact, especially hard over the past 30 years to completely separate youngsters from who they are as humans...  to remove any and all semblance of human connection, having attempted to replace it with an attitude of non-thinking, non-feeling total uniformity.    

Rather than striving to equalize opportunity, we have worked toward equalizing outcomes and the results have been disastrous.  This is a perversion equal to the exact same perversions we have sought to avoid… by avoiding all appearances of human connection in the first place.

And so over time..  when these kids and future generations… naturally and subconsciously begin to rebel from this madness, as evidenced by so many news stories over the past few years – they are simply branded ADHD and drugged. 

There now... that’ll fix that!

Please get this - - - And when they rebel from this insane indoctrination…  we chemically lobotomize them.  Rather than address the actual problem - this sin of systematically destroying Human Connection, in our attempts to heal this broken leg -  

….we simply break the other leg.

…

with things like Ritalin… or the passage of  more feel-good, do-nothing legislation... or rules in school that forbid natural human emotional responses - apparently geared toward the wholesale elimination of this thing called the Human Connection. 

“If we dehumanize them we’ll eliminate all the problems that come with that.”  “Rather than teach them and mentor them how to work through life’s problems.. we’ll simply ‘deprogram’ them by allowing those particular ‘muscles’ to atrophy … to the extent that’ll never be a problem again – we’ll eliminate that entirely…

….along with the next Einstein… or Hawking..  or Saulk… 

In essence, we have normalized and legitimized the Crushing of the human spirit – but it’s for all the right reasons...      right?

And so eventually,,,  when one of these poor disconnected victims of this social perversion just snaps, as they are beginning to in great numbers… and there’s no one in their mentoring up-line… No level of human connection to ground them …  No teacher who cares and waiting to be proud of them… no minister, who was not about to be “seen as cruising for their next victim” … when there’s no one to look up to…  When the ultimate goal is reached and they are no longer connected to humanity…

… they walk onto a school campus with a gun, or some equally bizarre activity.

And, to be very clear:  this is not a rant about gun control.  Haven’t you been reading?  Guns are not the enemy.

This is a rant about reversing the cultural evolution which is destroying the process of maturing young people into successful and well-grounded adults.  This is a rant about what is actually causing the problem, and it is not “access to guns”.

This is not a rant about the ‘wayward trigger’.  This is a rant about a set of conditions.. and conditioning, which would inspire someone to pull that trigger. 

We’ve had access to millions of triggers throughout our history, but never, ever, have we seen a time when so many people wanted to pull them – and for all the wrong reasons. 

It’s not about the trigger.. it’s about the motivation.

This is a rant about a concerted effort to destroy what it means to be human and turn it into something else… because we have forgotten how to deal with these precious jewels as individuals.  Seriously.. who can be bothered, right?”  There are so many of them.. it’s just easier to zombie them up with propaganda and drugs.

And so rather than address this problem, what we hear in each of those situations is

“We need tougher gun laws.”  Or

We need to ban words like “bossy”

Wow – really??  As long as we continue to say that broken and disconnected children got that way because there aren’t enough laws on the books and we need even more laws – we will continue to sound like the doctor who says:

“We need to break the other leg.”

In essence the doctor is saying, “we need to engage in SOME type of activity for the sake of appearances, but to actually address the core problem doesn’t accomplish the ultimate goal.”

We don’t need more laws.  What we need… is to do whatever it takes to re-humanize our precious youngsters or we are going to continue to lose generation after generation.  

Children desperately need the Human Connection – not more laws.

What we’re doing now isn’t working.  It seems like more and more, as these horrific events unfold in our communities.. the answer is always to pour on even MORE of not only what isn’t working…..but can NEVER work.

This is the reality you earn when you allow people into positions of leadership with absolutely no leadership skills or vision.

It’s a mess of unimaginable proportions.  The President doesn’t get it – or won’t get it.  The congress doesn’t get it.  Limbaugh doesn’t get it.  Hannity doesn’t get it.  O’Reilley doesn’t get it.  And what’s more, they don’t want to get it… because it doesn’t promote their “Us vs. Them” agenda.  It’s not an official ‘talking point’.

In order to get the point across…  In order to shed light…It’s going to take a leader who knows something about leadership to begin work on this and frankly, I’m deeply concerned that there doesn’t appear to be one on the horizon.  

But until that time, for anyone reading who would venture down this far down the page..  Please, Please.. Speak to children in the grocery store line.. Please Engage them in friendly banter..  Please Help the student who just can't seem to grasp the concept and will be lost without your insight..  Praise the winner of the spelling bee, or the science fair..  CHEER like Hell when the young man or young woman scores..     Help us all to restore the Human Connection .. the Art of Conversation...  the Beauty of Mentorship... To hell with "diversity" ..  Praise Achievement ... And please, let's all do our best to turn this thing around before it's too late.

And should there be someone .. anyone.. with the particular type of leadership skill of which we're in such desperate need right now...    If that person does come along... they’re going to need all the luck and support they can get... and to that end I send to them my sincerest good wishes and would say to them from the bottom of my heart:

“Break a leg.”

~A.B. Miller

“The Man of a Thousand Opinions”

03/31/14
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Better guide well the young than reclaim them when old,
For the voice of true wisdom is calling.
"To rescue the fallen is good, but 'tis best
To prevent other people from falling."

Better close up the source of temptation and crime
Than deliver from dungeon or galley;
Better put a strong fence 'round the top of the cliff
Than an ambulance down in the valley.

~Joseph Malins - 1895