The
Path Not Taken
Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 3/11/18
There are three paths
down which the current gun debate is taking us.
Not one is good.
One
path is that of utilizing youths to drive public policy. Those who oppose guns are shamelessly pushing
teenagers in front of television cameras.
Teens in Parkland, Florida and around the country are being manipulated
by adults.
Oh,
the wisdom of youth. Except that the
youthful “wisdom” we’re seeing on television isn’t wisdom at all. It’s the well sharpened words of media-savvy
teens. But media-savvy doesn’t equal
maturity.
Are most high schoolers
capable of addressing the implications of a tragedy just hours or days after
the tragedy has occurred? CNN’s fake
Town Hall meeting encouraged teenagers to try.
The result was youthful disrespect for a U.S. Senator and the blaming of
over 5 million law-abiding gun owners for the tragedy at Parkland. Watching CNN’s staged anti-gun rally, I kept
thinking “Shall the pot command the potter?” as youth after youth stood to
scold Senator Rubio and point their young fingers at the NRA.
This
path is also the path of emotional striptease.
Inordinate grief has become a characteristic of Americans. There was a time when we were taught to
grieve manfully, to be strong when bad things happen, to interpret the events
of life with hope. Television cameras and
widespread grief counseling have ended that.
Counselors
are one of the best things about public schools. Young people need them. But
when we dispatch grief brigades to every scene of tragedy, we’re teaching
teenagers to wallow in grief, to weep, to mourn. I’ve seen my share of this approach, and it
doesn’t help or teach youths to bear up.
It does the opposite.
The trauma industry, bent on helping us “get
in touch with our feelings,” has eroded self-reliance. With the best of intentions it has fostered
emotional self-absorption, the sharing of feelings, the baring of our hearts. The result has been emotional fragility.
The
second unfortunate path the gun debate is taking is the neglect of rural
America. America has become so urbanized
(80.7% according to the 2010 census) that urbanites look askance at rural
citizens. In rural America, a 19 or 20
year old is not a child. Rural America
would be severely hindered if we raised the age for purchasing a firearm to 21. Rural citizens need guns for hunting food,
for self-defense whenever the nearest law enforcement officer is miles away,
and for intrusive wild animals. Unlike dogs, coyotes and rattlesnakes are not
man’s best friends.
No offense, city dwellers, but in the country
you grow up faster and learn responsibility sooner. Lawmakers need to remember this when they
hear the argument that all 18 to 20 year olds are children who can’t handle
guns.
Finally,
the gun debate path is heading straight to the school house where, positioned
in the middle of it all, teachers are viewed as absolute wimps. To the contrary, if I were still in the high
school scene, I would this very day volunteer “to carry.” If this sounds like bravado, it’s because few
people understand the sense of responsibility teachers have for the students
they teach. What an insult to think
teachers don’t have the stomach to protect their charges. “In loco parentis” is buried deep in the
hearts of teachers.
Not
every teacher should be or needs to be armed, though I doubt I have ever taught
with a man who would not volunteer to.
Also, I’m thinking at this moment of 15 or 20 women with whom I’ve
taught who would not hesitate to carry. Femininity
and courage are not mutually exclusive.
Neither are femininity and gun skills.
Courtrooms,
legislative halls, and the White House are safe because we have made them safe
– with guns Not only have we not made
schools safe; we’ve stupidly erected nearby signs that read “Gun-free Zone,” an
open invitation to a sickened mind or a depraved heart.
The
path we are not taking is the path to the larger picture: that of violent,
numbing entertainment, absent fathers, weakened homes, and the waning influence
of and dismissive attitude toward religious faith and training.
For
what it’s worth, I drove a school bus at age 17. Gerald Smith kept a rifle in his pickup gun
rack and parked on the street right beside the school. But soon the family imploded, children
started having children, parents traded parenting for “identifying,” and
troubled youths lost meaning and purpose.
If we think the real issue
is guns, we’ve been flummoxed by emotionalism and softened by urbanization. The larger picture, the path not taken,
beckons.
Roger Hines
March 7, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment