No one wants to do jack shit anymore.  We are raising a bunch of whiney jerky cry babies.  In fact many of us are whiney jerky cry babies.

Remember the days of ole when someone acted like an asshole and they got their butt kicked? You can’t do that now, because you will go to jail and then get sued.  Asshats have all the power.

Remember when you had to go to school even when it was cold out?  Not anymore.  I live in Texas and we had one day of ice and for the next week the city periodically shut down because it was a little wintery out.  I mean, it is WINTER, and shockingly enough it is going to get cold out.  School boards were so scared of getting bitched out (or sued; it is, after all, the American way) by parents, they were calling bad weather days for cold.  Just.  For.  COLD!   I may have seen one teeny tiny icicle, but there were not even two flakes of snow, not even one.  How about we just cancel school for all of January and February?  God forbid little Suzie gets chilly on her way from the warm bus to the warm school.  When I was a kid I had to walk barefoot in the sand both ways and I even got a SUNBURN!  Ok, ok, I grew up in San Diego, but you get the picture.

Remember when you actually had to win to get a trophy?  Not anymore.  The fact that my kid gets a participation award for just being on a team pisses me off.  Honestly, that’s not the message I want to send to our youth, or particularly, my son.   Just show up, you don’t even have to try.  I want my kid to know he has to kickass and be awesome. Be a badass!  In the grown-up world, they aren’t going to get promotions and raises just for showing up (unless they work for the Government).  Our kids will be expected to do shit, shit that counts.  Or they can just live in your basement forever and you can continue to do shit for them…

Remember when America led the industrialized world and made everybody’s shit?  Not anymore.  Now China makes all of our shit.  Wonder why?  They do shit over there, they’re willing to do shit. People here don’t want the shit jobs anymore.  The blue collar jobs.   The jobs that may break your back, but make you stand tall.  Everyone wants a cushy job with a nice office.  No one wants dirt under their nails.  No one wants to plunge a toilet; we’re all too good for that.  Listen, I live w/ two men, I plunge a toilet at least once a week and I clean them too.  Why?  Because if I don’t do the shit, the shit won’t get done.  Shit will be everywhere…

Remember when hard work was something to be proud of?  Not anymore.  Now everybody thinks it’s their right to have a job they love.  Another myth we’ve spoon fed our youth.   It’s called work for a reason.  NOT everybody gets to love what they do.  If you manage to have a job you love, you are very, very lucky.  It’s not your God-given right.

Remember Reading, Writing and Arithmetic?  When using a calculator was cheating?  Not anymore.  Jeeze, in school they don’t even need to learn to write, like with their hands, anymore.  Why waste time learning when a computer, calculator or Government can think for them?

Speaking of the Government, it owes me.  People with more money owe ME.  Everybody OWES ME!  ME.  ME.  ME!  Nobody owes ME jack shit.  I owe myself.  Pride, dignity, respect.  Go work for what you want.  I hear kids graduating from college complain that it’s the previous generations fault they can’t get jobs, we’ve ruined it for them.  NEWS FLASH:  There have been recessions and depressions and economic slowdowns since the beginning of time.  They aren’t the first to endure this.  There are jobs out there and shit that needs doing.  If you don’t like the way things are, get out there, work hard, and change shit!  Start a revolution!  (Oh shit! That’s hard work!)  Complaining- won’t change shit.

I’m not going to tell anyone how to parent.  Ok so maybe I am, a little bit.  BUT I think we can all agree that if we focus on loving our kids, teaching them good core values (you know, right from wrong, The Golden Rule and such silly things), and set real boundaries with real consequences (so life’s consequences don’t include you bailing them out of jail at 3am someday) it would be a good thing for them and for us.  I think we are so busy not wanting to spank or yell or traumatize our children that we have forgotten consequences are part of real life.  Not teaching that to our kids is doing them a disservice.  If time out is what you like, great use it. But how about not saying something like this: “Jimmy if you do such and such again I’m giving you a time out.” Then Jimmy does again. “I’m serious; don’t make me count to 10! One, two, three.  I’m serious… One, two, three…  Don’t make me say it again…  One, two, three”.   And he does it again and again and again because he knows you never will reach Ten and there is no consequence.  The only consequence is he has to listen to you practice your numbers over and over.

Couples therapy, psychotherapy, counseling.  Depression, anorexia, anger management.  The lists go on and on.   Psychological and emotional trauma is a luxury for us 1^st world inhabitants.  Hunger, rape, war, genocide.  These are the troubles facing people in Ethiopia, Yemen and the slums of Mexico.  When you’re agonizing over having to sell your 8-year-old daughter into marriage so your other children won’t starve, you don’t have time to take stock of the booboos your parents inflicted upon you and point fingers at everyone else for the problems in your own life.  No time for therapy when you are praying the guerrilla war doesn’t bust through your mud-hut door.  They don’t give a shit if their kid gets a participation award at school; they just want their children to survive.

Being born in America is winning the birth lottery and if we don’t start appreciating it and being grateful, like fall on your knees and kiss the ground grateful. Like willing to work hard and do SHIT to keep our country great, then I guess we will get to see how the other half lives. Then we will really have shit to complain about.