Why mass shootings are recent issue
The seventh-grader had a wicked curve ball, but a more wicked temper. So when his coach offered constructive criticism (what used to be known as “coaching”), the player’s response was short, but definitely not sweet.
“F--- off!” Except that he didn’t use the abbreviation.
His punishment? He sat out a single inning. After all, he was the best player, and the coach valued reliving the glory years he never actually had over correcting unacceptable behavior. And given that children mimic everything, the message was received loud and clear by all: Bad actions have no consequences, especially if you’re a “star.”
Our failure to hold young people accountable – from sports to school, and work to home – is directly responsible for the unspeakable events that leave us shaking in disbelief. We have deliberately allowed our value system to become massively skewed, one that is now devoid of common sense and right and wrong. Instead, those principles – the foundation upon which America was built – have been replaced with a winat-all-costs attitude (by cheating, if necessary), an all-encompassing sense of entitlement, and a do-whatever-you-want, whenever-you-want mentality.
That mindset, in lockstep with unprecedented coddling and a victimhood culture where everyone is to blame except oneself, has produced an entire generation unable to cope with the real world.
The school massacre in Parkland, Fla., was just the latest tragedy. Par for the course, the debate has gone off the rails, as blind partisanship and the quest for social media fame has trumped not just civil discussion, but something worse: The ability to ask the most important questions. Why are they happening only now, since they never occurred before?
What has changed in such a short period that young people now view suicide and coldblooded murder as perfectly acceptable methods of “achievement?”
Certainly, we should be talking about other “tactical” issues, from arming teachers to restricting guns, and from expanded background checks to installing metal detectors. Fine. Debate them all. But it is naïve, not to mention arrogant, to say that any of those things will “prevent” a massacre. They can, at best, mitigate the chances.
It is human nature to find “solutions” to mind-numbing questions in the path of least resistance. That may ease the burden on our soul, and make us feel good about ourselves, but it solves nothing. And the proof is in the pudding, as massacres and wildly disturbing behavior become ever more routine.
The inability of people to assess themselves honestly has allowed hypocrisy to run unchecked. Many who so often preach about fairness, manners, sportsmanship and setting a good example are the very ones backstabbing colleagues at work, screaming uncontrollably at youth games, and instructing their children to win at any cost, regardless of rules or teamwork.
Parents, teachers, administrators and coaches hover over our children, attempting to sanitize adversity and create a “riskfree” life. They organize “play dates,” choose teams during recess, ban tag, and stop keeping score so the losing team isn’t offended.
But those children, and the adults they become, eventually must step outside that all-protective bubble. The result is an entire generation unable to process, let alone effectively deal with, things that don’t go their way.
We have warped a generation, producing manic children conditioned to fear everything, from walking to the bus stop (because they’ll be kidnapped), to playing cops and robbers (because they might become mass murderers). The creativity and curiosity that comes with being a kid has been erased, replaced with a structure so unnatural that social skills are nearly nonexistent.
Third-graders routinely tout the latest cell phones (more than $1,000). Whereas once baseball players donned a hat, shirt and glove, now almost every player has his own helmet, $300 composite bats, and bat bags rivaling premium luggage. Youth basketball players think $150 sneakers make them better (and somehow entitles them to mouth off to refs).
Entitlement and coddling have left our children completely unprepared for life’s adversities. With no change in sight, tragic suicides and massacres will become ever more common.