The last post got me thinking about the parallels between being a parent and being a patriot.
As I've mentioned, I'm a mom, raising four kids. I know a lot of you out there are parents or pet owners (yes, it applies there too!). Now, which is the better parent - the one who says, "My little darling is just perfect! He can do whatever he wants!" as Little Darling pulls the wings off flies, bullies other kids on the playground, steals their toys, lies, and disrespects others, or the one who corrects Little Darling's behavior?
Most people would not dream of allowing their children to grow up cruel and selfish. Children are born selfish by nature as a survival instinct, but it's a parent's job to teach the child to get along with others, to share, to wait their turn, to put themselves in other people's shoes, to respect others. That makes for a happy, well-adjusted child who has friends, who does well in school, and later on does well in life. To not give a child limits is to neglect and abuse them. We even treat our animals with more kindness by training them.
If a kid eats too much candy he gets sick. If he isn't given nutritious food, he becomes weak and sickly. If he isn't given chores and responsibilities, he doesn't understand how to take care of himself. If he's given every toy or thing he demands, he will not understand the meaning of money. He'll be spoiled, greedy and what's more, unhappy and dissatisfied without knowing why.
I see our relationship with our country that way. To say "America's perfect and if you criticize it you're unpatriotic" does our great country a huge disservice. Nobody wants America to be a spoiled bully, but if we do not discipline her, that's what happens. I love my country too much to do that.
1 comment:
Great analogy!!
And the irony being that's how chimpy was raised - as a spoiled brat who got away with blowing up frogs and the like, with no repercussions.
I can't help it but because you also mention pet owners, a good example of BAD pet parenting is over at Agitprop's, where he has this hysterically funny video of a woman who keeps screaming that her dog "bites me in my vagina" over and over... a must-see. But beside being entertaining, it is a perfect example of a bad pet owner who lets her dog do whatever the hell it wants. So it goes and plants a tooth in this guy's upper thigh. Result? Probably that dog will be put down. It's not the dog's fault in my mind, it's the idiot woman's.
In regard to our country: Those who think criticizing some of the things our country is responsible for is denial, period. Sorry, those in denial, you can't change facts. Our governments have done some pretty heinous things, just like every other country is at some point responsible for heinous acts. Nothing in this world is perfect, and especially governments!
It's truly OUR responsiblity to watch the government to ensure against its corruption. Obviously, WE are not doing our job. Why? We can't! The corruption was not caught soon enough. Well, we can, but who knows how effective it will be?
Instead of blindly believing that we can do no wrong, folks need to wake up and figure out how we can right the wrongs.
Post a Comment