THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS ………….
Once upon a time our children could walk to school on their own from as young as 8 or 9 years of age. My sister and I walked to school together from the age of seven and never feared anything except stepping on a crack or anyone bar the old lady on a patio in her rocking chair who yelled at us every time we passed. Only when we were older did we understand about the combination of Stroke and Alzheimers, or the real ‘Crack’.
It is apparent that no longer do parents dare let their kids walk to Primary School. Oh! Lordy lordy it’s all about ‘Stranger Danger’.
It is we adults who will tell them not to talk to strangers and then shove them onto the lap of some old bearded guy in a red suit. Now that’s what you call a mixed message. We, as a society, have taught them to fear everyone and everything from red-headed people to peanuts.
All of the information available to us would suggest that ‘Strangers’ are the last thing we should fear. Statistically children are just as safe today as they were a century ago. Even though the relatives of Fagin still exist we need not fear them. These days they are in charge of our Juvenile Institutions and no longer steal hankerchiefs.
No. The real fears we should have for our children today are the adults who responsibility is to protect them.
At home or at school, at a friends house or even at Sunday School children are more likely to be assaulted than travelling between these different places.
As a person who for many years worked in the same environs as kids who not only walked the streets but lived on the streets and traded themselves on the streets I feel I am well versed in saying that except in a few exceptional cases some children who have chosen to leave home are sometimes many times more safe on the street than in the care of any so-called responsible adult.
Children on the streets have in the main been abused at home, or at school, or in the hands of carers, under the control of government agencies or even under lock and key.
It is an ignored fact that a vast majority of people in jail today have at some stage in their life been cared for by the professionals of the State.
Every time someone says that children are not safe on the streets of our villages, towns or cities I am staggered by how naïve they are. Naïvity might be a bit harsh, maybe it’s the fact that we couldn’t give a stuff about it and just believe whatever diatribe the shock-jocks want to feed us. We should teach our kids to fear politicians and commercial television before we fear strangers.
We should really fear the tendency for society to fix everything with medication or allow our children to ever be ‘helped’ by a ‘professional’.
Many Teachers are professionals but do we really respect them as we used to? Fifty years ago we were complaining about the poor standards in schools and the quality of their education – have you read the papers lately?
Teachers have one of the strongest Unions in the country and they know it. Our education system has been hijacked by the Teachers for the Teachers and I don’t think we realize it. Why would Teachers fear being ‘tested’.
There are many Doctors who profess to be professionals but rely more on the pitch of medication salesmen than on their own moral values. I don’t know the exact data but I believe that up to a quarter of children in Primary School are on some form of medication anywhere between Ritalin and and Remeron. The only stool softener I used as a kid was a cushion.
Some people even fear the Police. The law can be harsh, unkind and uncaring. The law is blind so they say. So is commonsense I say.
Worry about the fears imposed by society before you worry about the fears posed by people.
Once upon a time our children could walk to school on their own from as young as 8 or 9 years of age. My sister and I walked to school together from the age of seven and never feared anything except stepping on a crack or anyone bar the old lady on a patio in her rocking chair who yelled at us every time we passed. Only when we were older did we understand about the combination of Stroke and Alzheimers, or the real ‘Crack’.
It is apparent that no longer do parents dare let their kids walk to Primary School. Oh! Lordy lordy it’s all about ‘Stranger Danger’.
It is we adults who will tell them not to talk to strangers and then shove them onto the lap of some old bearded guy in a red suit. Now that’s what you call a mixed message. We, as a society, have taught them to fear everyone and everything from red-headed people to peanuts.
All of the information available to us would suggest that ‘Strangers’ are the last thing we should fear. Statistically children are just as safe today as they were a century ago. Even though the relatives of Fagin still exist we need not fear them. These days they are in charge of our Juvenile Institutions and no longer steal hankerchiefs.
No. The real fears we should have for our children today are the adults who responsibility is to protect them.
At home or at school, at a friends house or even at Sunday School children are more likely to be assaulted than travelling between these different places.
As a person who for many years worked in the same environs as kids who not only walked the streets but lived on the streets and traded themselves on the streets I feel I am well versed in saying that except in a few exceptional cases some children who have chosen to leave home are sometimes many times more safe on the street than in the care of any so-called responsible adult.
Children on the streets have in the main been abused at home, or at school, or in the hands of carers, under the control of government agencies or even under lock and key.
It is an ignored fact that a vast majority of people in jail today have at some stage in their life been cared for by the professionals of the State.
Every time someone says that children are not safe on the streets of our villages, towns or cities I am staggered by how naïve they are. Naïvity might be a bit harsh, maybe it’s the fact that we couldn’t give a stuff about it and just believe whatever diatribe the shock-jocks want to feed us. We should teach our kids to fear politicians and commercial television before we fear strangers.
We should really fear the tendency for society to fix everything with medication or allow our children to ever be ‘helped’ by a ‘professional’.
Many Teachers are professionals but do we really respect them as we used to? Fifty years ago we were complaining about the poor standards in schools and the quality of their education – have you read the papers lately?
Teachers have one of the strongest Unions in the country and they know it. Our education system has been hijacked by the Teachers for the Teachers and I don’t think we realize it. Why would Teachers fear being ‘tested’.
There are many Doctors who profess to be professionals but rely more on the pitch of medication salesmen than on their own moral values. I don’t know the exact data but I believe that up to a quarter of children in Primary School are on some form of medication anywhere between Ritalin and and Remeron. The only stool softener I used as a kid was a cushion.
Some people even fear the Police. The law can be harsh, unkind and uncaring. The law is blind so they say. So is commonsense I say.
Worry about the fears imposed by society before you worry about the fears posed by people.
