- It's been a long time since 1953, when I first began
to perceive life as it really is. In that year, I was exactly ten years
old. Dad bought his first car. We lived in the country (Bronx, New York
in that year, in that part of the Bronx, *was* the country).
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- Life was good. OK, so there was Senator McCarthy,
the Korean War and crooked politicians (business as usual) but my age,
my family culture and life precluded excessive worry over those issues.
To me, my worst nightmare was how to tell Mom I really didn't believe in
Santa Clause. That happened in 1947. Actually, I never believed in Santa.
But that's another story. Besides, compare then with now and those of you
who go back that far will admit that things then, were a hell of a lot
better than things now.
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- In those times, in my first decade, anyone who wore a
badge was to be respected. I said "Sir" and "Mam" and
words like "Thank you" etc. I was polite. I was being educated
in a parochial school taught by the Marist Brothers. Actually, I lied.
I also had to worry over what was a mortal sin and during confession each
Saturday, had to go through the rules in order to determine how to confess
one sin over another.
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- That too, is another story. But I got over it. I grew
up and began to mature.
-
- Politics, politicians and government however, did not
mature. Unless you consider deterioration as maturation. I began to realize
that politics and politicians, government and those who governed, were,
are and always would be, crooks. More and more, the news media uncovered
greater numbers of politicians who took bribes or broke the law in sundry
ways.
-
- These men were punished for their crimes. Not like today,
when politicians who were indicted for various crimes now hold seats in
government which, in past times, would have precluded them from working
at cleaning spittoons and les bole de toilette. Not so today, eh?
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- In 1953 our nation was united. True, there was Republicans
and Democrats. Young people as is the culture of the young, were liberal.
Or they were liberal in the face of their parents being Conservative. That's
the way it was and that's the way it is. But we were educated. We had information.
And when I write, "They were educated ... " I mean to say
they understood current events to a much greater extent than young
people do today.
-
- As an example, almost every kid I knew could recite the
names of the president and his administration. Almost every kid. In school,
we were required to read a newspaper designed specifically for kids. I
found out after reading these weekly newspapers, that I began to become
current with events at that time. In fact, I began reading print news media,
magazines and books. This began in school, when the system exposed young
people to news channels. When it dawned on us that we could keep up
with current events merely by doing a little reading. After a while, it
became habit, habit which lasted all our lives. We are the Baby Boomers.
-
- School was a place where teachers taught subjects, not
their own personal politics, capitalizing on their charges with young,
impressionable minds. In some quarters, this is called propaganda. Teachers
taught kids things they would not learn at home. And at home, kids were
taught things which were the purview of the parents not the school system.
Parents did their jobs properly. Mom stayed home because she wanted to.
Had to, in order to raise the family she wanted. These days, Moms want
both family and careers. Well, sorry folks, but this writer believes that
the career of a mother is to raise her kids and be there all the time.
-
- I've been accused of being naive in this matter. But
just look at our country today. Mom is out working, so is Dad. Kids
are learning nearly everything in school, from sex education to religion
and politics as well as reading, history and math, etc.
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- But the education they are getting in those matters pertaining
to the subjects perviously taught home are not tailored to the individual
needs of the child. These subjects are tailored not at all. They are
designed to fit the 'average' child ... whatever the hell that is.
-
- Well, there is no average child. And there is no reason
that children should learn about sex in school. Or at the mall. Or by trial
and error ... mostly error. There is no reason for parents to be parents
if one of the parents is not planning on staying home and making a home
for the kids, raising and nurturing them, loving and feeding them not just
food but culture, God, politics and sexual morays .
-
- I have a sister in law who at one time, told me she didn't
feel like making dinner that particular night and took the kids to the
Golden Arches. Huh?
-
- Today, we are fat, indulgent, disrespectful whilst simultaneously
demanding respect, we are ill-educated, we haven't a clue as to who in
our government is whom.
-
- Here in New York there is a nationally syndicated radio
show which on one day per week, sends a reporter in the field, usually
at a mall or other similar gathering place for young people and interviews
them. They are asked questions such as:
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- "Who is the President of the United States?"
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- "Who is the Vice President?"
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- They are shown a picture of some famous person in the
news and asked it they know who that person is.
-
- Three out of four of these kids don't know who the vice
president is. They don't know who Condi Rice is or what she does. They
are asked, if they of voting age, "Did you vote in this
last election?" If the answer is 'yes,' they are asked for whom they
voted. They are then asked why they voted the way they did. There is rarely
a viable or even reasonable answer. If they are not of voting age, they
are asked who they would vote for if they could vote. Same answers ...
no answer. No answer worth accepting.
-
- When asked questions about history, such as who the first
president of the United States was, they often don't know the answer.
-
- This, kind and gentle readers, is your future being questioned.
They are not grown up, they are ignorant, they are culpably ignorant in
fact, they haven't a clue about how our government is supposed to work
and most important, they *don't know anything about their own responsibilities
as citizens!*
-
- Why? Who is at fault? How is the problem to be solved?
Who will solve the problem? Et Al.
-
- And we are a nation divided. Left and right. Meanwhile,
back at the White House, at the Nation's Capital, our erected leaders (that's
no typo) are doing what they want to do, not what they are supposed to
do. YOUR WILL. No, they are doing THEIR OWN WILL.
-
- Who is at fault?
-
- *YOU* Each and every one of you. You are doing
(or rather not doing) what your children are not doing. You are not understanding
your responsibilities, you are not understanding your rights, you do not
understand the Constitution and the fact that the Constitution demands
responsible citizenry working at their own governance. They understand
only that the Constitution demands certain inalienable rights.
-
- Rights vs. Responsibilities. In those three words rest
a large portion of the problem we Americans face. We don't even know our
rights or understand them sufficiently enough to appreciate the attending
responsibility associated with those inalienable rights. Gimme. Don't give
... just GIMME. Take, don't give. I recall President John Kennedy's inaugural
speech. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can
do for your country."
-
- No place else on this planet is there a nation like America,
where the citizens are able to refer to their president in the manner in
which certain people refer to Bush. Forgetting about his being right or
wrong, the office of president deserves a lot more respect than it is and
has been getting.
-
- But then, how may one respect someone or something when
one does not respect oneself?
-
- And so we are a nation divided. Our division is due primarily
to our ignorance. Our ignorance is due primarily to our educational system
and our parents. Neither are serving our children. Neither are serving
our nation. Everyone appears to be serving themselves. Not only are we
divided politically, we are divided individually. We are a sick nation.
We are developing a terrible illness which could be fatal. And not a one
of you ... sorry ... that is a gross exaggeration ... not enough of you,
know it. Therefore, the illness is going untreated, a fever is developing
and soon, sooner than we imagine, the entity we now know as the United
States of America, will begin to die.
-
- What a most heinous loss that would be to US. What a
heinous loss that would be to the world, to the planet, to freedom.
-
- God bless America. Because without His blessing, America
is lost.
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- Morty
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- Jim Mortellaro, AKA, Morty
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- Email: Morty@MortysCabin.Net
-
- URL: www.MortysCabin.Net
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