I have a friend (I know, big surprise) that has a theory. A pretty good theory actually. Since I want to protect the innocent (not that he is), I'm going to substitute a name for him. For the sake of this blog, we'll call him Smelly Hambin. Now Smelly called me last week and said, "I've got it figured out!". I of course was over-the top excited to find out just what it was that he had figured out, so I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Turns out, Smelly wanted me to ASK him what he had figured out. And although I hadn't been drinking, I believe it was something along the lines of "it's all the hippies fault". Ummmmmm, okay?
Smelly's theory goes something like this. When the hippies came along in the 60's, it was all about peace love & happiness. About people getting along. About everybody being equal. Well these people at some point stopped staging sit-ins long enough to procreate and have a bunch of little curtain climbers. As these tax deductions started getting a little older, their parents (the hippies) didn't think it was fair for little Apple Blossom to play soccer, but not get a trophy. I mean hey, who needs to know who wins & who loses? So they decided that everybody that played, whether they were really good or really sucky would get a trophy, that way, there's nobody that's better than anybody else.
As the little suckers got older, mommy & daddy didn't think it was fair for the really smart kids to get A's, and their poor little Moonbeams to get C's, so they went to the principle and complained that things were so unfair, and poor little Moonbeam was gonna get left behind. So the school districts started some stupid crap about "social promotion", which was basically, "even though your kid's a dumb-ass, we have to move him up a grade just so he won't become a social outcast".
Then these same kids entered the workplace, and guess what they figured out? That's right. Not everybody makes the same amount of money!!! It didn't matter that Larry was willing to work 18 hours a day to get the job done and get promoted. It didn't matter that Stanley was working 3 jobs while he put himself through college, then started up a computer company at night in his basement, only to see it go to $1billion in sales over the next five years, all the while working 80 hours per week and trying to raise a family. It didn't matter that Mary started as a receptionist and worked so hard and smart that she ended up running the company.
Nope. None of that mattered. All that mattered was that Moonbeam and Apple Blossom didn't get the same stuff that the others got. So now, they picket Wall Street in an effort to let the world know that our capitalist society doesn't work after all. Just because 1% of the income earners in this country make a gigantic portion of the income, it doesn't work. They are calling themselves the "99 %ers". Got news for them. Even though they might technically be a part of the "99 %", they have absolutely nothing in common with most of the rest of us.
I'm part of the 99%. So is my boss. So is the guy who sweeps up my jobsites. I have absolutely no problem with the Bill Gates' and Warren Buffet's of the world. They worked hard. They worked smart. They brought new technology to the market. Whatever. The point is, they EARNED it. All that the damn protesters on Wall Street have earned is the right to bitch about it. (Actually, they themselves didn't earn this. I believe it was actually the generations of people fighting for the Constitution of this Country that earned it for them, but I digress)
So what we have here, is a generation of whiners & mal-contents that believe they "deserve" something just because they are alive, who were bred and raised by a generation of whiners & mal-contents that believed they "deserved" things just because they were alive! I think I see a pattern.
All this led me to think about a few things from my past & the way I was raised. I never got a trophy until I was an adult and was able to cheat my brother out of it in a racquetball tournament. I never got a "participation" medal. The only way I ever got a medal was through lots of practice and actually winning something. (still don't have very many medals!) And guess what? We knew who won or lost! And we didn't break down and start shooting people because we lost! We worked our butts off to make ourselves better and actually try to win the next time! And the majority of us today actually try to do better for ourselves than just "getting by". And we aren't pissed off because there are some rich people in the world. Most of them have worked their asses off a lot harder than most people are willing, in order to get ahead!
So any of you hippies out there that are reading this, and are wondering why your kids are screwed up, look in the mirror. Then go get your kids and beat their asses!
Smelly, you might be on to something!
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