What's Wrong With America?

What's wrong with america? Helmets! Yes, america's problems (well most of them) all come back to helmets.

Back when i was a kid we only wore helmets when we played league hockey or when we were pretending to be intergalactic bounty hunters working for Darth Vader. Not when on skateboards, bikes, rollerskates, or any other moving object handed down, bought, or poorly constructed out of scrap wood and random wheels from the garage.

Modern parents send their kids off to bed wearing helmets for fear of their heads hitting the pillow. "Yeah you sarcastic bastard", you may be saying, "but now most kids have all their fingers, toes, and both their eyes as they enter adulthood in our more safety-aware society." Yes, they are in better exterior physical condition but they lack the intestinal fortitude.

Native Americans used to keep a watchful eye on their youth. They wouldn't allow kids to walk into fires but they'd let them get close enough to feel a slight burn. What better way to gain respect for fire? Lesson learned and no permanent damage. The Nun's used to randomly threaten us with violence to teach us... well i haven't exactly figured that one out yet..but...hit your head once and you will never want to do that ever again. Your subconscious will help you to do all kinds of acrobatics every time you fall to keep you from banging your melon again. In addition, you will make very conscious decisions to keep from hitting your head again.

The thought of luging head first down a hill on an contraption you built out of spare plywood and your sister's old doll carriage suddenly doesn't seen like such a good idea. If, however, you have spent your life all cushioned out without a scar or bruise to show for yourself you are unaware of the potential cost of your hair-brained schemes. This is the real ramification of an overly safe childhood.

The realization of consequences help us make better decisions. Protection from too many childhood consequences could possibly even cause a detachment from our own sense of human-ness (that part of us that realizes that we are fragile little critters). With a frame of reference gone a lack of empathy for other's human-ness easily follows. This quickly leads to bad decisions. Bad decisions is what has led us to where we find ourselves now.

G.W.B. may say terrorists, i say helmets. Either way i'm not fond of either (or all three for that matter).

A wiser man than myself once said "bones heal and chicks dig scars..."