The best of the best

This is what we're supposed to be. This is what we're supposed to instill in our kids...to not just "be"....but BE THE BEST. All within their capabilties of course. We've gone WAY wrong in our instilling into children that "they can do anything they put their mind to." I call "horse manure" on that one my friends. I want to set the record for number of cover shots on GQ Magazine....but that ain't gonna happen. I want to win the "Beach tan of the year award" but constantly come in third behind a pile of snow and a sack of friggen marshmallows. Heck, I'd settle for being able to paint a landscape without my colorblindness causing me to paint a tree trunk pink. No matter how hard I "put my mind to it" there are some things that I'm just not suited for. God forbid we raise kids who see the world for what is really is and have a grounded mindset toward their role within it. Basically we're a bunch of over nurturing liars that would rather our kids go through life with a false sense of assuredness than allow them to get a swift kick in the "feelings" early, and have a grounded, realistic approach to life...and to the reality that sweat and blood need to be spilled for anything worthwhile to be accomplished in this world. The sad thing is that every institution and person of authority is letting them down. We've created a world in which seventh chances, free loans, instant gratifications, bailouts, parachutes, dumbed down learning standards, and sub-par goal setting have set our children up for failure. Wait, who am I kidding? We've set US up for failure. The only example being set is one that screams "Don't worry about failure....you're special....success is your destiny...you can't fail because we won't let you." And it's just not our kids...it's our parents too. When the cold hard reality of tarnished dreams finally smack these poor, hapless souls in the face...what exactly do you think is going to happen? It could be mayhem. Just imagine an entire generation that just had the bucket of cold water called "your high school education failed you" dumped on their head. Think that one's bad? Try on " your $30K college education is worthless unless you work twice as hard after college to apply it". Oh yeah, that oughta wake them up right quickly. Unfortunately they're waking up from a TV, media, and educational system induced comma in which they've been subjected to delusions of "success" being billed as "money, possessions, and power being acrued by doing as little work as possible". They're falling out of a bed of coddling and parental failure, onto a stone-cold floor..... covered in broken glass and shattered illusions. What have ANY of the last 2 generations had to accomplish themselves? The priviledged get everyhting handed to them. The average get grants and loans so everything can be handed to them. Even the poor get what they need handed to them. Think I'm wrong? What have ANY of you had to wait, struggle, persevere, and endure for? Need a car? Here, take a loan. Need an education? Here, take a loan. Need a house so you can mortgage it in the future to get the loan that starts the next prison cycle for your kids? Here, TAKE A LOAN. Why should we believe that our kids won't opt for the easy way out in ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE? Look at their examples! We simply dumb down test standards rather then accept that our kids are failures...why? Becasue being there and making sure they're learning what they need to learn is HARD. Rather than save the extra money we have when we pay off a debt, we simply commit it to something else. Why? Because if we do need another car when the paid off one breaks down we can simply GET A LOAN. We have a Gov that prints and loans money to people who caused catastrophe thereby averting the example of failure and it's consequences....at least for a little while. Where is the example of living within our means and taking the resulting overflow and extending a helping hand to our fellow man? The example of saving for a "rainy day" and setting a high standard and bypassing the shortcuts of compromise while working to reach that goal? Oh, right, THAT'S HARD. WE....you..me...the "church"...and our precious "capitalism" have done more to spread laziness, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, murder, and pain than any other generation, culture, or class in history. How can i make this asertion? Simple. The LOVE of MONEY is the ROOT OF ALL EVIL. Not money..but the LOVE of money. The problem is that we've bastardized the meaning of love in the framework of that scriptural quote. You think you don't LOVE money? Tell me, how many hours do you figure the average American, or churchgoer for that matter, spends thinking about finances or financially related issues? How many hours are devoted to not only working for money but planning future work for the accrual of money, investments intended for the accrual of money, and how much money we'll need to retire in a "comfortable" or "EASY" manner. ( Oh look, there's the easy way out again!) Our entire way of life, as a country, is based on markets and finacial instruments that reward people for doing nothing but dedicationg their life to making MONEY for other people. What exactly about investing, the stock markets, life insurance, and IRA/401K's, would inspire people to focus LESS on money? THAT is the question you should ask. The stock market collapses and the entire country's mindset instantly changes.....as quickly as the refreshing of their financial stock report on their computer. THIS is the expamle we have set and is the model around which we are raising our kids. You think Global warming or WMD's are the biggest threat to our children's future? Think again. The next time you're brushing your teeth try looking in the mirror....kinda look like a hangman don't you?