Another Reality check

[uspirate]

I thought some of you could relate to this. where did the times go?

Scenario : Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack. 1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD.. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.
Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario : Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy .

[erps]

Ain't that the truth. There was an article in the local paper just recently that "tag" had been removed as one of the authorized games played at recess. Playing army was outlawed along with dodgeball a few years back. It will be interesting to see how this next bunch turn out.

[jrd22]

Scary isn't it. I think back on some of the (mostly) harmless stuff I did and there is no doubt that today I would be expelled, arrested, investigated; maybe all of the above. And I was a pretty good kid.
There is no room for common sense anymore, it's all been replaced with well intentioned, ass covering liability rules. I don't know how a normal teen age guy gets through these days without running afoul of one new zero tolerance rule or another. Shoot, I almost had weapons drawn on me when I went to take my CG tests last year at the federal court house because I had a pocketknife (doesn't everyone carry one?) with me. Guess I shouldn't have asked the guard if he would hold it for me ( I went outside and stashed it in some statue or art work-surprisingly it was still there when I came out). Strange times indeed, and it's bound to get stranger as the kids growing up with all this get out into the real world.

John

[Stillraining]

Thats partly why we decided to home school right from the start...My girls also have grown up on Horse back in a rural area...Building hay forts...playing in ponds..shooting guns...learning to fish..shoveling manure...mowing the lawn ... weeding gardens..splitting and stacking firewood...etc..etc..

There are still options in raising well balanced kids in a relative safe environment..it just might involve a career change on the parents part and definitely some personal sacrifices.

[sailortjk1]

Sad times we live in.

[sailingdog]

Unfortunately, political correctness and government nannyship has gone to ridiculous extremes.

How many of us grew up carrying a swiss army knife? I know almost all of my friends did... how many kids today do the same thing... probably none.

Are the kids really any safer with all this BS in place... Let's think about that... how many school shootings did you hear about in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s??? How many kids were massacred in school by gun-toting students... Yeah, that's right... basically NONE.

It doesn't really seem to me that restricting guns from school grounds is really doing all that much to promote a safe environment. What it is doing is creating a group of defenseless victims that are all easily located in a single spot.

[teodoro50]

Bravo, some of the best times I had as a kid were blowing things up with firecrackers. Never thought of talking back to dad, did way too much damage with my BB gun, had a summer job at 12, 50 cents was a movie with popcorn and soda. I feel for kids now. It's just too fast. Thanks for the reminder.

[sailaway21]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Unfortunately, political correctness and government nannyship has gone to ridiculous extremes.

How many of us grew up carrying a swiss army knife? I know almost all of my friends did... how many kids today do the same thing... probably none.

Are the kids really any safer with all this BS in place... Let's think about that... how many school shootings did you hear about in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s??? How many kids were massacred in school by gun-toting students... Yeah, that's right... basically NONE.

It doesn't really seem to me that restricting guns from school grounds is really doing all that much to promote a safe environment. What it is doing is creating a group of defenseless victims that are all easily located in a single spot.

You're exactly correct, Dog.

Your post reminds me that the only people I've been around with firearms that made me nervous were those who'd never dream of owning one and were very suspicious of those who did. Simply handing my Marlin 45-70 to my curious girlfriend brought home the long ingrained sense of never pointing a firearm at something you do not intend to shoot. Her lack of familiarity resulted in a swinging barrel that had everyone present either looking for cover or hitting the deck. Humorous only in hind-sight. Those who've grown up in what used to be a more traditional regard to firearms, especially those who've hunted, have little need for any further knowledge or respect of the capabilities of a firearm. Only the unfamiliar treat them casually.

As a boy it was a great and unforgettable moment when you were deemed responsible enough to carry your own pocket knife. That a knife is essential gear for man or boy was never even debated. It was common that even those with office jobs carried a very small lightweight pocket knife for those things where only a knife will do. My first knife was the ubiquitous Swiss army knife and, to this day, it's hard to envision a better or more well-received gift to a young man. It has everything on it to disassemble something he probably shouldn't be disassembling! And it should be needless to say that a seaman without a knife on his person is really only half an effective seaman. I doubt I'm alone in noting that having knives or firearms safely stowed away makes their ownership, in many cases, irrelevant. A knife in your room is of little use to it's owner 800 feet forward of it with a heaving line wrapped around his ankle. Some might adequately make the point about a firearm locked safely away in one's room while a nutcase is shooting one's fellow students.

Of course we live in an age where the immediate response to such ideas is to decry the notion that everyone might be walking around armed. They miss the fundamental point that were everyone armed, the chances of one individual or even multiple individuals thinking that he can just mow down a bunch of poeple goes down exponentially. The prospect of return fire cools the ardor for homicide admirably. And it's hardly necessary for all to be armed to create that important second thought in our nutcase's head.

That the safety-freaks have taken the discussion down to the level of knives is rather discouraging.

[chucklesR]

So the question to ask is how this came about, because aren't we the ones who brought it on ourselves? Who exactly was asleep at the switch? Me, because I've never voted one way or the other, or all the parents who never went to PTA meetings or complained because Johnny got his arse reddened by the principal? I recognize my culpability as a non-voter. I refuse to participate in the farce that is our political system.
The bottom line - we brought it on ourself.

[TrueBlue]

There aren't any more nut-cases on this planet than there were in the '50s.

What we do have more of though, is access to fantasy situations enacted through realistic video games, high-tech media-driven reporting techniques of horrific worldwide events, our children subjected to fictional TV dramas, aggressive reality shows and over-the-top movies available in DVD or cable format.

Some people have difficulty separating reality from fiction.