You know what is becoming really disturbing to me? People. Yeah, yeah I know, but let me explain. I don't know when it happened exactly or how, but I suspect it all started with Henry Ford and his damned mass produced automobile. Since that time people have been giving up their own power little by little and somehow or other we have become a nation of fat diabetics who are scared of everything. Our children are being turned into little sumo wrestlers who can't walk a mile to school. Gym class? How many kids are opting out because physical exercise hurts their self esteem? Kids have to be driven to soccer practice because everyone is scared their kid will get snatched off the street. No one is allowed to lose a game so every kid gets a trophy. So what the heck are we teaching them? I'm on this rant because a friend was telling me about trying to get a Safe Roots To School program going in her town. The school wants nothing to do with it. More and more towns are actually prohibiting kids from riding to school! The problem? The streets are unsafe!! Cycling is unsafe!! Walking is unsafe!! For crying out loud, it's the cars that are unsafe! Eating fatty fried food is unsafe. Sitting on your ass for 12 hours a day is unsafe. Burning 600 gallons of gasoline a year is unsafe. Stressing out in traffic while spending an hour making a trip of 10 miles is unsafe.
I think we are now finding ourselves in a crisis over the loss of our own self reliance. People have lost the ability to do things on their own. Ride a bicycle 6 miles to work? Are you out of your mind? There are all sorts of excuses--"I have to dress for business", "I don't want to be all sweaty", "It's dangerous", "It's too cold", "it's to hot", and on and on. The truth is that most people are just plain scared and don't think they can do it. They can't rely on themselves and have given over their freedom to the auto and oil industries. They have come to think that they have no choice but to gas up and spend 26 days of the year trapped in their cars. (average 12 hours a week x 52 weeks= 624 hours, or, 26 days!). Not to mention the percentage of income people are forking over every year to sit by themselves in their own little gas burning coffin. And now our children will have it worse. I have seen people drive their kids to the end of the driveway to sit in the car and wait for the school bus to then take a ride of less than 2 miles to be dropped off right at the front door. When are these kids going to learn how to take care of themselves? How? We are raising a generation of spoiled little pansies and when they grow up and are confronted with a national crisis I fear they will not be up to the challenge. These days there are lots of folks who are all up in arms about "family values" but I think our real problem is with personal values. Personal responsibility, self reliance, respect for self and others--These are the pillars upon which society rests. The crumbling of these pillars will mark the end of our freedom. I'm just sayin'.
