Saturday, December 17, 2011

Just as true today………….

Unlike the noble efforts of George Washington and his brave troops at Valley Forge during the terrible winter of 1777, the newly minted men of the neo-emasculation movement fold up their tents as the winter of 2012 descends upon them.  Instead of celebrating the good fortune of being born an American and thanking God almighty for limitless opportunities, these socially constructed eunuchs chant for a modern day Robin Hood. Far from wanting a level playing field, this group despises the game itself, preferring mutual mediocrity for all.

The days of scoreless T-Ball are over kids.

If you’re surprised by this outcome, you shouldn’t be.  This is the mentality bred when competition is scuttled from childhood via the enlightened helicopter parent’s who present the gift of  “illusory superiority” to their precious little one-of-a-kind brats in training.  Illusory superiority overstates ones abilities while understating their weaknesses.  In one study, 85% of high school students rated themselves as above average while 25% put themselves in the top 1%.  While all of the children in Garrison Keillor’s make-believe town of Lake Wobegon were above average, those NPR listening parents must have believed it to be real.

When you promote, support and endorse mediocrity, you demote success, achievement and drive.  When you punish the successful and gifted by forcing them to slow their pace to match the lowest performer, you sap their enthusiasm under the misguided assumption that doing so somehow rewards those at the bottom.

When you do away with the class valedictorian under the guise of offending lower performers, you breed the acceptance of low expectations.  When every kid in a classroom gets an award or certificate, so we don’t leave anyone out, you breed self-loathing.  When you encourage high self-esteem in those who should be reticent and reflective about poor choices, you breed narcissism.

When you allow a dose of reality to squarely hit your kid along side the head when he deserves it, you breed self reliance.  When you refuse to interfere with a social problem involving childhood rivalries and disputes, you teach self awareness and pride.  And when you punish bad behavior and reward exemplary performance, you build the foundation upon which cannot rest the mentality of the occupy movement. 

People from all over the world are willingly risking arrest, deportation, imprisonment and even death itself, just for the opportunity to set foot on American soil.  Their reasons and motivations for doing so are a much better study in what is good about the United States than the sad portrait painted at the not so artful hand of today’s occupiers, so far removed from their proud relatives at Valley Forge.