As I commence this particular entry, I'm already feeling old. So forgive the "old granny" discontent that is to follow. I'm a child of the 80s. I believe my generation is the last to have grown up "innocent."
What is happening to decent human behavior?
Before I start, I'm fully aware that there are still MANY wonderful people out there, and I'm lucky to have a fantastic circle of friends and family who represent this loving, supportive, portion of the population. But I encountered a situation yesterday that left me so flabbergasted and angry that I was still fussing over it last night. After complaining to Kevin, we reminisced about "the good old days," which for us means....the 80s, early 90s (stop laughing!).
In the building I teach in, we have more 4th grade classes than there are rooms on the 4th grade hall. Thus, my classroom is on the 5th grade hall. This year's 5th grade class, as a whole is....difficult. I have empathy. I've "been there, done that" with the particular group of students I taught last year. So at the end of the day, I'm standing at the door of my classroom, after the first wave of students left (car riders, parent pick-up) and waiting for the second bell to dismiss bus riders. My conversation with one of my kids was interrupted, as one of the 5th graders from down the hall flew past me, yelling to another student over his shoulder, (WARNING: Cover the eyes and ears of your children) "Shut up and move out of my way, faggot!" I had not quite gotten my mouth to react to this outburst and he had passed me by about 3 feet, when another student had the misfortune of getting in his way and was promptly (and deliberately) slammed against a door frame as he shoved past. This WAS enough to spur me to action. I doubt, however, that the tongue lashing he received from me did a bit of good. He stood there with that bored look on his face, like I and anything I had to say had ZERO importance to him.
Now, I'm not that old, but it seems like the time I grew up in was completely different. I think back to the "bad" kids when I was in elementary school and NONE of them wouldn't have considered behaving like this. And I went to elementary school in a suburban neighborhood...these were not all polite, well-dressed, halo-adorned kids. Still, we were a different generation. The last generation, I think, to still have neighborhood play. To still spend most of our free time outside. To not be absorbed by electronics. To have "traditional" families or family values.
In other local news, the neighboring town recently had a shooting that resulted in the death of, and the serious injury of another, Mormon evangelists (ages 19 and 21). The initial report, several days ago, was of confusion. Why would someone shoot a door-to-door evangelist? The conclusion? Apparently, the two had witnessed another crime and the suspect's solution was to eliminate these two as witnesses.
Another fairly local community has received a shock when an entire family was found dead in the home, throats slit, on Christmas Day. This includes both parents and two young girls.
This morning, a local man who travels the same route daily in his motorized wheelchair was hit by a speeding car. The impact was such that it flung the man from the chair (fortunately, his injuries are non-life threatening) and completely obliterated the chair. The driver never slowed down.
And this doesn't even touch the daily destruction going on overseas.
So when, exactly, did my world change? It seems to have been in the last 15 years or so. Part of it, I'm sure, is that I'm older and more aware of it. But still...it's just a completely different place than the age I grew up in. And sometime, a few years down the road, I'll be introducing my own children into the world. What will their world be like? Will they have to grow up afraid to go outside?
Some days, I'm sorry for the innocence that the kids I teach don't have. I look at how much they know, how much they are exposed to, and compare it to my classmates and myself at that age. And I wonder if maybe I got lucky to be a child of the 80s.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
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2 comments:
Michael Medved and his wife, Diane Medved recently wrote a book about preserving childhood. A must read for a woman wanting to gift innocence to her yet-to-be-born child[ren].
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060932244/qid=1136518432/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3805528-4761664?n=507846&s=books&v=glance
Can you please get Kevin to teach me how to do hyperlinks, bold and italics in comment blocks??
It's amazing how true what you just wrote really is... I remember riding my bike up and down the street to see my friends; I even busted my chin going over the curb. More than once. Everyday we were out there playing.
I think that even though we live in an information society that we must learn to limit what gets to whom and when. Children do not need to be burdened with all the politics, war, and crime that we see and hear about everyday.
It gets to me when people, especially athletes, say that they are not role models. I don't care who you are, the random guy on the street, the president of the U.S., or an athlete, you can, will, and should be a role model for kids. Even for people your own age. Or those older than you. You never know who will take inspiration from something you do (or don't do) or how you treat others.
And I wish parents were not afraid to discipline their children. But I guess that's the innocence of parenthood from a bygone era too.
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