Boomerang Kids....

Too Much Love is To Hate

     For the last several years I cannot not remember being seriously ill. Either I am a sort of super human freak or can say that the plethora of Army inoculations have set me up for a relatively sick free life. I personally believe it is because I let my immune system build up to a point that it can deal with many of the sicknesses going around today. I am hygienic and use soap and water after using a latrine but you still will not find me with a bottle of disinfectant sanitizing anything.
      I remember seeing a parent walking around spraying down the toys with a sort of iodine solution at a day care once. Unless this child has a unique sickness that negates a normal immune system he would have been completely fine. The Almighty made us in a way were we can defend ourselves against these sickness to a certain degree. On a more physical and psychological arena parents do the same with children, teens, and sadly enough adults. They sanitize and lay out a beaten path for children to follow that turns them into weak adults who often cannot handle the rigors of a tough world.
It wouldn’t be me to say that parents should not mentor or develop their children to live a life of value or exist without morals, since in truth that is what a mother and father should do. But to really believe that nurturing a child so much would help them in a cutthroat is absolute insanity.
One thing we can look at in the school system today is the recent unfortunate suicides by teens who were bullied. What made these children believe that the only sure route to save any dignity was to take their own lives? I remember being bullied a few times and only a few times for a reason. I stood up for myself. That did not always mean going into a physical fight, but the ability to show that I was less weak than the person doing the shoving. These kids today are taught and believe any form of physical confrontation is unhealthy while the parents and educators have a complete ability to protect them from harm and danger. The inability to stand up to wrong or evil has become a generational trait today.
     It is said that when you spare the rod you spoil the child. I heard a rabbi once say that every time he doesn’t show tough love to his child he puts money into a jar, not to send the child to college but to bail him out of jail when the time comes. If the child doesn’t end up with a record of dealing with the justice system you can expect him to end back in his old room he grew up in. Who can really blame him since it is much easier than living in a wrong where you have to push hard to accomplish anything worthwhile.
     I know that at times having a UH-60 or CH-47 is good to have flying over head. If things got to bad we could always egress to fight another day. But nevertheless if they weren’t able to extract my teammates and I in a many number of fashions, I had the confidence in my ability to sustain myself until the problem had passed. I have never been a parent, but when the time comes I can draw on the role models I had on my life. I will guide and teach a child but cannot see myself direct every steps so as to make him weak and unsustainable. And in the end my love will not lead him to the electric chair.

Enter Social Justice

   You know a few months ago, Rep. John Boehner spoke to a crowd at a well known Catholic college about the need to cut government spending, and like always with politics or those involved with it, the liberal social outlets dogged him for not only what he may have mentioned that day but his views as a whole. The extra ammunition came from his fellow Catholics that tried to cut him for his lack of charity. Often we are two tired from work or other daily tasks and just accept what is mentioned if it sounds articulate and intelligent. Being the new aspiring Catholic I am, my choice was to turn off the dozen or so commentators and dig out the CCC for some independant study. Now when I start RCIA (for the second time) I will look like the most dedicated guy there since the spine is worn out on the heavy book or not to mention the fifty or so sticky notes hanging out of it. From what I read, and it is my own opinion, Representative Boehner said nothing that contradicted the idea of charity.

  Often in a secular class in my junior college I attend, there will be some silly debate about the issues of the day. We all have heard them and how heated they can be. There isn't any true dialogue in these courses, just people with heated opinions and ideas that have spawned through their own personal experiences. I feel like I pay to go to a book club or support group most of the time.

  One class in particular allowed me the one time to write whatever I felt. Dangerous move Mr. Teacher. This school, like so many others, seems to just punch a ticket. You know the under the table agreement of "You pay us and we will say you are fit for the work force." They are not really use to a student with a good amount of life experience. They even expect less that a person will do extra research outside of class. I never really considered myself that smart of a guy. I have to carry a dictionary to class, often get annoyed when people you crazy amounts of "$20" words to explain something simple (they do it often under the excuse of not wanting to let the English language go to waste) and everything I write has to go through a younger friend I have to correct my less than standard grammar. Then again I have a great way of listening through the egos and if needed can offer the harshest of rebuttals. Often they come from the simplest of lessons as well.

   Everyone has heard how raccoons can be dangerous little critters, but the cute hands and the mask lets us forget the truest of facts of nature. Might be by Providence that I am not the butt of Jeff Foxworthy jokes for feeding one over and over again, but the nightly visits of her showing up on the porch asking for a dog treat or marshmellow taught me a very important lesson about "social justice". I called the short essay the Proletariat Raccoon. Enjoy!

The Proletarian Raccoon

    In the last couple of weeks, we as a nation have seen union protests for better pay of public employees and the occasional shouting of the redistribution of wealth. We comb economic, social, and political theories or ideologies for the best course of action. Any person can see both sides of the argument either from biased media or personal experience. Robert the Bruce once found the solution to his ordeal with England by just simply sitting back and observing nature, which I will do in explaining the problems with the Marxist ideals being shouted across our country.
   One of the great things with living outside any metropolitan or moderately populated area is being able to see nature first hand. Deer, owls, eagles, and even the occasional fox make an appearance around our house and after getting relatively used to the family. They are docile and less timid when being observed and frequently show very distinct personalities that can make nature all the more peculiar from a human standpoint. Recently the most common guest is an adult female raccoon whose gender is obvious due to the visible teats she is using to nurse kits in close proximity of our house. I first noticed her after we as a family returned from dining out for the night. Between my crazed Jack Russell Terrier Tipper and uncles throwing rocks at it, I didn’t feel it would last the night, but the cache of cat food and possibly the trash can guarantee its eventual return.
   I was hesitant to feed it openly due to the rumors of rabies or the unstable nature they may have, but after doing some research they are no more likely to carry some deadly disease than the other critters who occupy the back yard. The medium sized female made its discovery of my corporal works of charity one night and got its first taste of fish patties. From then on it was written raccoon code to make its nightly visits.
I had never really seen a raccoon up close before, but after acknowledging the mask quintessential of their species I decided to name her Bandit. I could see her nose that looked quite similar to the one on Tipper. I wouldn’t call them hands, but her paws are not like that of the normal animals found around the house. They are long, bony and used to hold the dog treats she now gets on her welcomed appearance. To be quite honest, I look forward to her nightly visits to the back door and am surprisingly disappointed if she has prior engagements for the night. She stands on her hind legs and “begs” for a hot dog or the bacon flavored sausage meant to reward the smaller member of the family for playing dead.
   Is my own desire to feed the pour starving animal a good thing? She probably has at least ten acres of forest that she could partake all the things The Almighty has set aside just for that purpose. It is possible in my own desire to “help” her out could be the cruelest thing I could do. The lesson is obtained not through the written works of Karl Marx or that of the latest conservative commentator, but just by observing what is before us.
   People, like Bandit, should work for their food or lively hoods. I realize that the state of our country causes some to lose their jobs, or that through the actions of adults children sometimes go hungry. I will never be above giving charity to those in need, or Heaven forbid accepting charity should I need it. But absolute redistribution of wealth often leads to laziness or complacency with our freedoms that we already have. I chatted with a woman one day who told me she was on the food stamp program, Section 8 housing, using the Pell grants offered for an education, although she was able to afford latest and greatest upgrade to her Iphone, designer clothing, and a large sports utility vehicle. It would seem that poverty here is upper middle class in other countries.
   I know sometimes people need help, and I also acknowledge the greatest minds and figures our country has to offer come from poverty, but what made them successful wasn’t the constant altruism of society, but their ability to rise above their own financial or social restraints.
  These are the things a person learns as he passes dog biscuits through a chained back door to a snout full of sharp teeth. I never considered the ramifications of my actions to the raccoon, but after seeing Bandit stand on her hind legs it was clear she had babies somewhere close by. I enjoy the chirping sound she makes before I hand her food and know that I make have taken from her what nature intended her to be. We are meant to enjoy the fruits of our own toil regardless of how great or small they turn out to be. On the same token I wonder if the redistribution of wealth will lead us to coveting what others may have or in the end just be a simple charity that the
bourgeoisie will never understand.