Ron Paul, the clever little man who is again running for President, feels that we, through our government, should not insure, or protect the people whose homes, farms and businesses are being flooded and washed away. It's nature, he reasons, and if this huge river is going to wipe them away, then maybe they shouldn't be there.
He has a point. But perhaps it's a little too simplistic. People have lived in towns along this river for a few hundred years now Yes, the population is increasing, but that is because we have been a successful society, and kept our people alive and healthy, so we build more houses. For years the river grew large in the spring, and often there were floods, but now there seem to be bigger ones, and more often. " Hundred Year Floods" seem to occur every three years now.
There is a very good, and probably scientifically provable, probability that the increase in these floods has been caused by the lack of regulation of pollution, climate change, and waste disposal. If people want to deny that, then more people will watch their stuff, and perhaps some of their relatives, float away.
And then be blamed for it.
But admitting that this is a more complex problem could mean more regulation, and that could be bad for business.
This kind of reasoning comes at the time when there are new studies being published by members of my profession that report that younger people in this country are much more narcissistic and much less empathetic than they were ten years ago, and even more significantly less than they were thirty years ago.
This seems to be related to three major factors:
1. Children's; lives are much more structured, much more guided by adult aspirations and directions. There is much less time for kids to do what my mother told me to do, or what I always wanted and expected to do as a kid, to "go out and play." I played with kids on block, or kids on the next block, or when we moved out of the city I played with kids in the park. We made up our own teams, our own rules, and often even our own games. If we wanted to have fun we had to get along. We had to negotiate, settle disputes, and enjoy being together. The kids who were demanding, overbearing or who cheated were left-out and avoided. They ruined the fun.
Today, when I drive around, in cities and suburbs, I see very few kids ever playing in the street, and in the parks it looks like all the activities are sports with uniforms, supervised by adults, often with paid referees. Everything is more competitive than cooperative. No kid is left alone because of the fear of kidnappers and perverts. Fear and competition is taking over from fun and cooperation.
2. This competition is often emphasized by parents, who are very competitive through their kids. Getting better grades, more activities, better scores, more coaching, in school, in sports, in music, in everything is important to get a step ahead in our capitalist, make it on your own world. Cooperation is often seen as a weakness, while using any means to find an advantage is rewarded.
3. The many kids who do not want, or cannot be that competitive, are the ones who stay home and play by themselves on video games. Yes, the often play virtually with other kids, but that is very different that playing WITH other kids, and discussing, negotiating, compromising and then competing. So many kids now play video basketball, with virtual swoops and dunks, but fewer are joing other kids and playing real pick-up basketball, and learning work together to pass, guard and set-up shots, even when you are 5 foot five inches tall.
When we played games we were often very competitive. It felt good to win. But if we were going to play the next day we had to stay friends with the kids we played against. Either they would be on our team the next day, or else we had to like and trust each other enough to want to play together the next day, and have a good time. There was a degree of friendship and respect, even to kids we hardly knew. You could go to any park in the state and the rules were pretty much the same, and the winning team got to stay on the court.
Bullying is more of a problem today because of these factors. Because of Facebook and email and text messages meanness can come from further away, and even be anonymous. There isn't the need to keep a relationship going to play again the next day.
The world is changing. Things happen much faster. Kids are exposed to somethings much sooner, but other things, like the kind of fun, chaos, exploration, negotiating, understanding, cooperation and friendship that they find on their own, without guidance, supervision or "enrichment programs," seems to be lost.
It creates a society in which a politician can say " Don't help them, they shouldn't have been living there." and to get away with it.
I don't agree with that. I feel badly for the people who have four feet of water in their living room. I know that if the wind blows a little harder here tomorrow, it could be me. And I didn't do anything to deserve that.
2 comments:
From what I understand, people like Ron Paul want back the America of yore. The thing is, people back then stuck together. I don't recall any of the older Americans I know, having this "every man for himself" attitude.
As you've noted, the basis of that is found in one's childhood.
When I read that 60% of graduates in Great Britain can't find a suitable job after graduation, it makes me wonder if it's worth sacrificing one's childhood for such little reward.
The summer my husband was a junior or senior in high school, he took a week-long canoeing and fishing trip to the wilds of Canada with two friends. I can't imagine the parents of our little grandsons allowing such an unsupervised trip when they're the same age. I know that I wouldn't, not in today's world. Yet how are the kids going to learn how to make good decisions, to be self-reliant?
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