January 22, 2011<\/p>\n
Many years ago I began to notice a change. However, the\u00a0 change didn’t begin recently. I have spent a lot of years working with kids\u00a0 around the Southeastern US. Most were in trouble for one reason or another. As a\u00a0 good problem-solver should, I searched for the cause of the problem. “What is\u00a0 creating these kids?”<\/p>\n
In finding the answers I had an opportunity to do a lot of\u00a0 observing. If there were simply a “maladaptive” set of behaviors, then the\u00a0 solutions would be quick and the problem solved. Sadly, that wasn’t the outcome\u00a0 in a lot of the cases. There were more and more kids. Those kids were coming\u00a0 from generational dysfunction and living in areas that did little other than\u00a0 topical gestures to abate the growing “problem”.<\/p>\n
As you are more than likely new to me and the way I think\u00a0 and write, I must caution you to not get lost. The stories I tell appear to be\u00a0 fragmented and sometimes dissimilar to a theme. Rest assured, they come\u00a0 together. Think of it as staring at the first puzzle piece and not being able to\u00a0 see the picture. Secondly, I will assure you that I am neither arrogant or\u00a0 conspiracy minded. I see, process, query, connect, seek scenarios and then\u00a0 present for others to consider.<\/p>\n
The pliability of Americans is very great. Without a doubt,\u00a0 we are the most absorbing, changing, stretching, reaching, and forgiving set of\u00a0 people I believe exist. We also are becoming optimistically unaware in our\u00a0 approach to our milieus and situations. Crisis comes and we will usually go\u00a0 through a period of unrest and noise and then it will fade. Prices spike,\u00a0 weather strikes, crimes occur and so on and so forth all around us each and\u00a0 every day. Information is now immediate and abundant with regards to all of\u00a0 these situations.<\/p>\n
While I don’t have information to support a conspiracy\u00a0 theory of a small group of people, with puppet strings in hand who seize the\u00a0 opportunity in a softer, more ignorant America for their own personal gain; I do\u00a0 see something else that is worse.<\/p>\n
As I understand our brief history in this country, we are a\u00a0 product of a tyrannical overseer that was England. The vastly smaller number of\u00a0 “Americans” back then recognized something that was wrong (even after being\u00a0 quite pliable) and had the fortitude to set out to make it right in their eyes.\u00a0 This meant discomfort, risk, courage and sacrifice. David was gearing up to\u00a0 throw a rock at Goliath. Frame this with the times. Life wasn’t comfortable to\u00a0 begin with. There were no convenience stores. There was no email. Transportation\u00a0 was attached to the bottom of your legs or you mounted a critter that needed\u00a0 feeding.<\/p>\n
We are not that baby nation anymore. We are a nation with\u00a0 an increasing number of babies. We are not a nation driven by Independence, but\u00a0 rather a nation “in dependence”. We are not proudly “America!” anymore, but\u00a0 rather “a me rica” culture who happen to have to live in the same space.<\/p>\n
Easy is not good and pain is a warning.<\/p>\n
As I understand physiology, things will atrophy without\u00a0 prolonged use. My kids (above) were just the last domino to fall. “We”, with our\u00a0 short-term\u00a0memories and “don’t want to get any on me” approaches to\u00a0 responsibility have demonstrated the layman’s definition of insanity. All too\u00a0 often, our systems have artificially affected outcomes through consequence and\u00a0 reward management; all through an ever-widening lens of “easy and pain-free”.<\/p>\n
My kids, didn\u2019t have the knowledge or familial (or other\u00a0 system) support to have the courage and humility to address and solve their\u00a0 problems while they were small. Ultimately, some go on to prison (or worse) and\u00a0 the audience watching it all on TV espouse in the moment how horrible that\u00a0 person is to do such a thing and very briefly fill in the blanks of an already\u00a0 well-formed and repeated stereotype picture with the details of the “crime”.<\/p>\n
blame – an attempt to avoid responsibility in an effort to\u00a0 mitigate discomfort<\/p>\n
Problem – an undesired pause\/stoppage in a process without\u00a0 an immediate solution available<\/p>\n
In my line of work, fear and insecurity are the slayers of\u00a0 most things good. I love and enjoy engaging in the debate of the day. However,\u00a0 talk usually doesn\u2019t benefit anyone other than plants. Violence as a solution is\u00a0 the act of desperation by those without the capacity to find solutions and\u00a0 without a belief that a solution can be\u00a0found. Isolation is the same, but\u00a0 usually doesn\u2019t draw attention. We will see more or both of these in the coming\u00a0 years. In the middle of the curve are those still attempting to engage in the\u00a0 process. On the fringes are those who think the process is fruitless and in the\u00a0 periphery is the ever-growing sea of \u201cjust existing\u201d.<\/p>\n
The solutions will not be\u00a0as easy as correcting one system\u00a0 or having the \u201cright\u201d person in an office. Solutions won\u2019t be found in rhetoric,\u00a0 debate, hate, shame, blame or compartmentalizing\u00a0or hiding small groups into\u00a0 safe zones. More than what I have described above as a reduction in resilience,\u00a0 determination and cognitive wherewithal; we have lost a sense of unity and\u00a0 nationalism. There isn\u2019t a person or a group today responsible for all of this.\u00a0 To find those responsible, we must first take a hard look in the mirror. The\u00a0 steps you take after that act will determine the course of a Nation. Leadership\u00a0 should not be loud. Following shouldn\u2019t be compelled.<\/p>\n
My kids were just doing as they were taught, or filling in\u00a0 the blanks on their own when there wasn\u2019t good or adequate teaching and\u00a0 modeling. Not knowing what to do usually leads to some fear. Unfettered fear\u00a0 looks like anger through frustration.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Robert A. Grier<\/p>\n
PS – This writing and my others are typically sent through\u00a0 multiple outlets. Please do not steal. You certainly may recite as long as you\u00a0 cite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
January 22, 2011 Many years ago I began to notice a change. However, the\u00a0 change didn’t begin recently. I have spent a lot of years working with kids\u00a0 around the Southeastern US. Most were in trouble for one reason or another. As a\u00a0 good problem-solver should, I searched for the cause of the problem. “What … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qui-tacet-consentire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ragpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}