"God, what happened to the world?"

Where has all the innocence gone? Why are we so suspicious of the reasoning of others? Why does every word and action have to have an ulterior motive beyond what can be seen on the surface?
And the greatest question of all: Why can't everything go back to the way it was before?

"HIGH SCHOOL - - 1957 vs. 2008

Scenario 1:
Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2008 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario 2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2008 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.

1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sit s still and does not disrupt class again.
2008 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario 4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abuse d herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario 5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.
2008 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario 6:
Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2008 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario 7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.

1957 - Ants die.
2008- ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents -- and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario 8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2008 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. she faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

Posted by Doug on March 27, 2009 9:23 AM"
Permalink: http://granitegrok.com/blog-mt/mt-tb.cgi/3401

We tend to overanalyze nowodays. We are cynical. We don't believe that other people are worthy of trust. Maybe it's because we know that we ourselves are not trustworthy, that we are sinful and selfish. We don't confide in anyone, so we blow everything out of proportion.

...It seems so overwhelming sometimes.

How do we learn to deal? Pray. It doesn't always seem like that's enough, but it's all we have.
God CAN change things, if we just take it out of our hands and put it in His. And we HAVE TO trust that He will know what to do with it. We can't give it all to Him and then try to take it back. That's idiocy. Let God do what He does best: care for us. Have faith when it seems like all is lost. It's easy to believe when nothing is going wrong, but it's harder to follow when nothing is going right.
We must come to our collective senses, and find a way to protect the innocent without overreacting to every little thing
(Like using a sledgehammer to kill a fruit fly).
Let's transform.

"Dogs of war"

Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

- William Shakespeare, from his play, Julius Caesar

"Havoc!": Permission from a high officer to pillage, destroy and create general chaos. In the play, Antony sees Caesar's death as herald for coming war. The phrase "Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war" is a well-known one, often quoted by anti-authority punks and wannabe gangstas.
I wish to take it back and return to it it's original meaning, deeply rooted in years of violence and war. War, also, has been bastardized and made to mean "any disagreement that cannot be settled by talking." I have heard the words "This is war!" so many times, it has lost almost all of it's original meaning. War should mean "a large-scale battle over important beliefs that history will remember as being either supremely well-fought and reasoned or supremely foolhardy." Reinterpretation is not always improvement. (Just don't tell that to Hollywood; you'll crush their fragile egos.)
So I say to the new generation, let us take back what is rightfully ours - the English language - and restore it to its former glory, rather than let it be mutilated at the hands of uneducated, uneloquent, "don't-know-any-better-or-simply-don't-care" poseurs.

Will you join me?