Character, values, selflessness… remember those?

I was reading an article about Alex Rodriguez, a.k.a. A-Rod, in the latest ESPN The Magazine and became outraged…again.  The title of the article is, “Lie.  Fib.  Con.  Bull.  Cheat.  Deceit.  Myth.  A-Rod.”  It names a number of professional baseball players, all of whom have lied about using performance enhancing drugs.  The article could have been referring to the local political leadership here in the Portland area…and many other cities too, for that matter.  When will it all end?  WILL it all end? 

It is extremely frustrating to be raising 2 small children in a world as corrupt and selfish as we are living in.  “Looking out for #1″  has replaced the motto of John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  Professional athletes, politicians, teachers, coaches, etc., etc.  all in our local news in just the past couple of days because of some ridiculous, self-centered, uncaring acts.  Many of these acts are criminal, all of them are just plain wrong.

Portland has a mayor who lied about inappropriate behavior with a 17 year old boy to get into office.  He would NOT have been elected if the truth was known.  The truth IS known now, yet he isn’t being removed from office.  He certainly committed an immoral act (s), and it remains to be seen if he committed a criminal act.  He’s still at his job. 

A local high school teacher, age 29,  just got his second DUI, he’s still got a job.  The schoolboard refuses to fire him.

A local high school wrestling coach fakes a students name so he can compete in a tournament, knowing he was ineligible.  He still has his job as a P.E. teacher.  That school board refuses to fire him as well.

I really think that many of our leaders have gone insane.  They have lost touch with reality.  CONSEQUENCES for your actions seem to not exist anymore.  Am I going to have to teach my kids about the Golden Rule and self-responsibility and actions lead to consequences the way I teach them about the rotary phone?  A neat idea… but an old, outmoded and not a very modern concept.

I get angry when I think of all the cheaters, liars and con artists that I am going to have to prepare my children for.  They are so innocent right now, they think that everyone has their best interest at heart. 

JUST TODAY, I was helping my dad on a remodeling job, and the electrician who was also working on the house had his roll of copper ground wire stolen right off the front porch of the house.  He set the roll down, then went inside for literally about 2-3 minutes.  When he went back out, the roll was gone!  $260 gone just like that.  He was very upset, and we looked around the neighborhood some, but the person was long gone. 

Personally, being raised in a good home and taught the meaning of values and character, I can’t imagine the mind-set of someone who so casually takes advantage of and steals from others.  SELFISH.  If we are going to keep our “civilized” society working, we are going to have to do a better job instilling values in the population.  It starts with the parents. 

Parents like the woman who just had the 8 children via a sperm-donor (not counting the 6 she already had) and doesn’t even have a job, husband or a stable home make me sick.  She represents exactly what the problem is.  SELFISH!  What kind of chances for success do those little babies have?  With their mother as their role model, not very good.

What can we do about this?  One thing is for certain, we can act responsibly ourselves and raise OUR children right.

The article in the ESPN Magazine suggested with the professional athletes who lie and cheat, “Considering how thoroughly the sportsworld has become infected with this plague, there seems to be just one solution: Go after their money!  Salaries.  Endorsements.  Everything.  Call it the Marion Jones rule: Anyone caught lying must give back the money their lies helped them earn.”  Sounds like a good start.  Did you hear that Mayor Adams? 

But what can we do about regular, ordinary people who continually lie and cheat others?  Well, we could start by actually punishing criminals.  That’s right.  Not just “rehabilitating” them, which has been proven exhaustively to NOT work in MOST cases.  PUNISH crime.  And, on top of punishing criminals, reward excellence.  Don’t make it seem so unattainable.  Thank people who give you excellent service.  Reward good behavior more regularly and publicly.  Be a person of character who appreciates other good people, and let them know it. 

I think we are on a real downward fall when it comes to morality and values.  The only way to change the trend is to start small.  CARE.  Do the right thing.  Have a little long-term vision, and think of the world our children will be inheriting.  Do what we can now to make it a better place for us now, and them down the road.

Get back to basics.  Like Vince Lombardi used to do.  He started off every season going back to the basics of the game.  “This gentlemen is a football.”  He then started on the fundamentals of the game.  That’s how you build a solid foundation.  The bricks of a civilized society are families.  2 parent, intact families.  Those are the bricks.  The structure (society) cannot survive if enough of those bricks crumble.  How is our structure looking these days?  Remember Rome?  Read a little history for some insight and you will see many scary scenarios that might seem a bit too familiar.

Don’t be naive.  There is a struggle going on between good and evil right now.  Right here.  Corruption and foul play abound. 

My dad and I were talking today about those old science fiction horror movies like Escape from New York where all the good people live indoors or underground.  Remember that?  Good people couldn’t walk the streets because everyone outside was a maniac or a zombie or a thug.  That’s where we are heading if we don’t change.  In fact, you could easily argue that we are already there in many cities.  I don’t want to have to watch my son every second when he’s 10 years old.  I want him to be able to ride his bike and play basketball outside for hours like I did.  But with all the sexual predators, drug dealers and thugs that freely roam around, how can a good parent do that today? 

In our local news tonight they talked about a man who had a long criminal history of sexual crimes and was out walking around with an ankle bracelet.  He came upon a 13 year old girl, tried to rape her then killed her.  What do you say to her parents?  How in the world have we come to this point where criminals, repeat violent offenders, roam freely among the good people?  How can we honestly and absolutely protect our children?

You often hear about the guy with 51 DUI’s, or 27 felony arrests, or the “career criminal.”  Still driving around, and still walking the streets endangering law abiding citizens. 

Education has taken a back seat in our public schools to entertainment.  School is not supposed to be a place to “express yourself.”  It’s a place of learning.  Maybe we should make all kids wear uniforms.  That would eliminate a tremendous amount of problems right there.  No more contests to see how low you can wear your pants, or how much of a punk gangster you can imitate.  Public schools today are better funded, on the whole, than they were 20-30 years ago.  Yet, the children don’t do as well on the basics, reading-writing-math.  Why?  Too many distractions.  Short skirts, cell phones, i-pods, teen pregnancies, drugs, etc.  All of these are dramatically reduced when kids come from a strong, 2 parent intact family.  Look at the statistics.  Let’s promote the right things.  Involved parents teach their kids to care and to be responsible for their own actions.

Political correctness and sugar-coating reality has to stop.  Deal in REALITY.  Far too many adults live in a fantasy world regarding the current state of schools and our youth.  We need to do better.

I just hope that there are enough others that care about this as much as I do, so we can turn this thing around.  It’s already bad.  Maybe, just maybe we can raise the next generation of social revolutionists who will demand better.  Enough is enough.