Tuesday, October 30, 2018

You've Earned This

Not really. Well, maybe. Can you hear my grin?

American culture needs more rites of passage for kids. There seems to be a lot of confusion among young people. Boys just aren't growing into men; girls don't know when to feel like women. What have they missed in their childhood that makes them so confused? Could it be that they just never had some event that made them know who they are?

A lot of children are far too coddled. They aren't allowed to get dirty, to dive off the roof, or to jump headlong into things unfamiliar to them. They're not allowed to take real chances.

I went to work with my dad before I was even old enough to drive. I loved it. Even though I wasn't even remotely as strong as he was, was terrible at the work, and absolutely abhorred the exhausting, bone-jarring work, I loved the fact that I was doing something manly with my father. Kids need that.

I remember having the skin removed from the top of my knuckles numerous times trying to learn how to do the work. Once, I accidentally dropped a spinning chop saw on my hand while I was centering a piece to cut. My dad gave me toilet paper and masking tape. I've seen him bleed, so I wasn't as scared as I could have been. Example is another thing kids don't have.

I can't really speak to the issues facing young females in knowing what it means to be a woman. What I can say, though, is that I think girls may not know what a man should be, due to the fact that their dads aren't much more than effeminate breeders. Like weeds, they toss their seed at every patch of ground they find exposed. That can't be good for a girl to see as a model for a man.

I may be wrong on every count. Maybe I'm just old and immature, myself. Somehow, I don't think so, though. It may not be some ceremonial rite of passage, but kids need to be shown who they are before they can grow up.