Problem people

Last summer, we had a young man from a large city come and stay with us for a month. He was 16 and had never evidently done anything much of a physical sort. 16 and a half, as he was quick to tell you. And also he told everyone we came across his name and where he was from! Maybe some of you met him. His name is Kevin. Smart as a whip, and talking to him was much like talking to someone who had just graduated from college. But, no real refined motor skills. When he left he could saddle a horse and bridle him, get on and off, had learned to fix fence somewhat and had made great inroads into learning to drive a vehicle with a 5 speed!

I learned, I am not a very good teacher. I have little to no patience. I am lazy and when I have to do a job that I thinks someone else is capable of, I get growly, really fast! Just ask my grandchildren!

At one point, after giving Kevin a mild butt chewing, I told him, I would quit doing it if he wanted, but that his parent would then have to pay me for every day he was here. He was supposed to be working for his keep. He quickly told me that no, I shouldn’t change my teaching methods.

He was as friendly as a shepherd pup and eager. I hope I didn’t take advantage of that, and I don’t think I did as he calls fairly frequently and we have great hour long conversations. We both find the others life interesting.

In our last conversation I accused him of being a Woke, Liberal, Snowflake. He admonished me that he wasn’t. I was partially joking, but still and all, his thinking is much the same as so many young city dwellers. In the course of this conversation, he defended himself and said, “after all, young people can do so many things you older people can’t, like work with and on computers.” I defended us old geezer as best I could could and then pointed out we could all drive a 5 speed and read and write in cursive! I pointed out that if there was ever an EMP strikes and it took out all the electrical on everything that has it, he and his ilk would be lost. I asked if he carried a pocket knife. Of course not, not allowed in school. I asked how he would survive with out any electricity to run anything. He was at a loss.

We carried on and I pointed out that a man should be able to defend himself and those around him and know how to use a knife or a gun for the tools they are and being respectful of they power it give you. I told him of going to school and having guns in our vehicles and that no one would ever think of using one on a human except in the most dire situations. Or a knife. As I pointed out, our friends would not allow it. We would have been stopped by our peers. It was unthinkable and only the most venal and lowlife skunk would even think of doing so. We fixed our differences with our fists and even then there were kind of rules. You were not allowed to gang up on others. You didn’t hit or kick a man when he was down. Fist were the only weapons you had.

And that was all true. If anyone had tried any thing different that that they would have been ostracized by everyone, including their peers and friends.

I wonder how we got away from that. He was startled when I said every man should learn what it is like to get punched and knocked back down and that you can get back up.We all learned this as young boys and young men. We learned to not lie, because if you did, soon no one would trust you. Your word was your bond. If it wasn’t, you were shunned.

Then came the “kinder, gentler” approach. We see people in high places who were raised in that manner. They no longer follow the rules. But no one shuns them. People reward them for wrong doing. People flock to follow them,

Seems to me, we have gone astray. Some of these people need a good whack in the jaw and knocked down and everyone waiting for them to get on their feet again, by themselves. And we need people to stop rewarding liars and thieves. 

Not sure how we go back, but a start would be to take all the warning labels and such off things and let people learn some hard lessons for themselves and learn they are responsible for what they do and say.

But that is just my opinion. Yours may vary.