Dysmey Post Archive > Pages for 2003 > The Mid June 2003 Edition
Last week was relatively pleasant. Our network admin was on vacation, but apart from a power outage at a branch, no problems came about that required his services.
Wednesday I went to the northern branches, in part to complete the workstation inventory I started two weeks ago, and in part to set up a laptop/projector system for two presentations by a visitor from a certain government agency.
My setup both at the northern branches, and at the main office after my return that evening, made the presentations successful. I am told I was highly praised for this by the visitor. That is a good thing, because I don't get much praise in my job.
OK, so I did get a free lunch on Tuesday at the Olive Garden by the department that manages the Company's presence on the Internet. I have been giving them help in setting up their electronic forms on the Company intranet when the other forms were delayed.
Another payday, another set of bills to pay. The bills were not as bad, though, and for some reason, the electric bill has a credit. I think I will talk to either the electric company or my sister about that.
Anyway, I sent so much time up north that I got the day off on Thursday. I finally sold my old computer (with Windows 2000) to my sister, and I used the money to pay my car insurance and update my driver's license.
The picture on the license does not look as fat now. The abandonment of sugar-based soft drinks and foods, as well as months on metfo, has made me look thinner than I did at the start of the year, and people have commented on this.
I read in Rolling Stone, that some teenager in a wealthy New York City neighborhood was punched out at a party. The back of his skull shattered when he hit the concrete. He could've survived; but his friends freaked out and tried to cover their butts; and the delay killed him.
Last month in a wealthy Chicago suburb a group of thirty high-school senior girls beat and sully some junior girls on a football field as part of an initiation. Some of the juniors needed medical help, and soon word of the initiation spread. High school officials punish the seniors by barring them from their graduation. One of the girls brazenly sues the school.
People are shocked by all of this. Why?
The days when Americans had a common set of values, and the will to impart it to their young, are gone. Yet parents assume that what was true decades ago still is. With neither the will nor the time to teach their values to their kids, parents act under the illusion that the schools will do the teaching.
These kids grow up in a fishbowl, as it were. To quote C.S. Lewis, they have no 'chests', no trained sentiments to fall back on when something goes terribly wrong. With only fear and rage from their bellies to guide them, the kids acted in the only way they know.
I am not excusing the kids. I am just saying you should not expect them to act in any way other than how their parents taught (or failed to teach) them.
I wonder why the people who raised their kids to be this way are shocked when the kids act this way. And the kids are from the well-to-do neighborhoods, from where our future leaders are likely to come. Think about what our leaders are like now (Clinton, El Dubya), and you will see how dark our future will be when the kids become adults and take over.