Mustang Rambles

The PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: Part 3.

Thomas Jefferson carefully worded this phrase for the Declaration of Independence. He realized that if worded, Life, Liberty and Happiness that he would be opening major problems for his new country. Unfortunately, the last 75 years have brought those problems into the American mainstream with the natural results we see today.

The phrase “Pursuit of Happiness” indicates that we all will have the op[portunity to try to be happy. We will be able to do those things that may bring us happiness. We will be FREE to choose our path through this life, FREE to try to obtain those goals, jobs, and money that will make us happy. It does not guarantee us that we will “choose wisely”. It does not guarantee that we will achieve our goals, get that job, or earn that kind of money we think we need. It merely recognizes that the opportunity is there. It does not say that society owes everyone a living. The grasshopper should not suck up the ant’s hard earned wages. As any farmer knows, too many grasshoppers can ruin the crop, just as too many people on the public dole can ruin the society. The ant who freely chose to work hard and save up for winter should be allowed to keep his earnings. He pursued his happiness and “chose wisely”.

Nobody, anywhere, can guarantee you happiness. Normal life events will always cause you some grief, some setback, some disaster from which it seems you will never recover. Some do never recover do to a lack of determination, patience, courage, will power, or physical strength. Mostly, we don’t recover because we don’t expect to ever be challenged by life, we don’t have the emotional reserves built up by having faced and survived tough times as children. Today’s modern American Society wallows in safety and good feelings. We try to never challenge our children’s self-esteem. In child sports we give everyone “Participation Trophies”. We try not to keep score so the little tykes won’t know they lost and suffer the agonies of defeat. We try to seal them off from hunger and disease so they will never suffer the flu. We make them wear helmets to bicycle and knee pads to skate. Consequently, because of these things, our children cannot cope with adversity.

They become devastated when things don’t go their way. Their first failure in life, say, getting fired from a fast food joint, can be cause for years of depression. By the way, in sports, the kids know the score. They know if they win or lose, you can’t hide it from them, Parents, so don’t try. Our teachers keep telling them how wonderful they are, how good their ideas are, how pretty the pictures. Teachers are told not to use a red pencil when correcting papers because it will hurt the pupils feelings and make them think they didn’t do well. Well, hell, they didn’t do well and they need to know it! They need to know that they aren’t making the grade and need to work harder.

As to disease and safety, many of our kids are so protected in infancy and early childhood that they do not develop the immune systems they need to protect them later in life. They are so wrapped up in Mommy’s little antiseptic cocoon that a mere cold will lay them low, cuts become infected, and the flu will devastate them. In the area of safety, with all the safe equipment, kids don’t get to know the agony of carelessly skinned knees, bumps on the noggin, bloody noses, and the occasional broken arm. There is no “mental callous” built up during childhood that will protect them later in life.

Children are protected from images of violence and death. Of course, gratuitous violence and death in the movies is not particularly good for anyone, but the normal images of a run-over dog or cat, the shooting and field-dressing of a deer, the killing of varmints, and the death of family members should not be hidden from children but addressed as normal life events. Many young people today are not prepared for the violence of our society or of our world. History classes in school do not dwell on the wars with their attendant death and destruction so when our young go to war, they are not prepared for the scenes they see or will participate in. They are not psychologically prepared to cause death or to endure the dangers and duration of war. A great part of this is the political meddling in war that causes a soldier to be afraid to shoot because he will be judged in court by non-soldiers if his shots go astray. It is the fallacy to training soldiers to kill, and then threatening them with punishment if they do kill when under fire by the enemy. This may be why we have such a surge in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in our military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Considering the length of time we’ve been there, and the number of military there, it is one of the safest wars our soldiers have fought in, ever. Yet, our suicide rates are rising, and more stressed individuals are returning in greater percentages than in any other war. In short, we’re raising weak generation because of our fear of allowing our children to experience life.

In our society today, thanks to 75 years of welfare allotments, payments to people who don’t work, won’t work, and teach their children not to work, we have non-participating members of our economy whose main goal is to suck as many free dollars from our taxes as they can. These elected representatives, then grant large sums of money to the non-working class of welfare people so that the welfare people will vote for these socialist dollar-sucking scumbags.

We need to vote them all, Republicans and Democrats, out of office at the first opportunity.