The Pussification of America

First, read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-medium-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Take it with a grain of salt, because after all, it's funny. Then think about it. Then it's not funny. It's tragic. It's tragic because it's a perfect, living example of the pussification of America. You want to see why America churns out so many mal-adjusted, sissy kids who immediately try to shift the blame of all of life's problems to somebody else? This is why. Society is so afraid to send the wrong message to kids that ultimately what has happened is that we send them no message at all. Kids grow up in this little utopian bubble, totally oblivious to issues that effect people every day... issues like dealing with mistakes (yours and other people's), unfair situations, and competition. When that bubble bursts and kids are thrown out into the real world, they are not properly equipped to handle the stresses and struggles of life. When I grew up, I learned the value of taking chances, as well as learning when not to take them. I learned that failure is a necessary part of life, and that failure is what motivates you to suceed. I also learned that competition is vitally important, because if you're not better than your peers in what you're trying to accomplish, you're not going to accomplish it. When you're competing with 20 other guys for a single job, like it or not, not everybody is a winner! Not only do you need to know how to deal with losing, you need to learn how to win. Someday you're going to be put into a position where you have some hard decisions to make. It starts pretty early in life, when you start dealing with the pressures from your peers, including making huge decisions about smoking, drugs, drinking, sex, and all kinds of misbehaviors. How do you expect kids to react to these very important issues if they grow up in a bubble where these kinds of problems are swept under the rug? If you constantly shield your kids from this stuff, your kids aren't going to be prepared to make these decisions when they're forced to.

It's about time we get back to reality. Kids need to see that the world isn't perfect, and that they will always have to make the best of it, and that starts by taking accountability and making your own opportunities, instead of worrying about what kind of roll model Big Bird is. Anybody who thinks that Snuffleupagus is responsible for children's problems should have taken the blue pill. In fact, maybe they should do the world a favor and take the whole bottle.