2 - October 18, 2012 Yol4r Hometown Newspaper News Outlook
Heaven Is
A Lot Like
By Charles Mattox
"Foolishness is bound in
the heart of a child; but the
rod of correction shall drive it
from him."
Book of Proverbs Chapter
22 verse 15
"If (a commander) is so
undisciplined with (his sol-
diers) that he cannotbring
them into proper order, they
will be like spoiled children
who can be put to no good use
at all."
Sun Tzu, Chinese Gen-
eral, author of The Art of
War written in passed down
nearly 2600 years ago.
'This highway leads to the
shadowy tip of reality: you're
on a through route to the land
of the different, the bizarre,
the unexplainable Go as far
as you like on this road. Its
limits are only those of mind
itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, hours in the very heart of starred at me as if I'd just that, but I see what I see other way around. I do not
you're entering the wondrous one of the larger communi- thrown a bucket of water and lhearthe horror stories admire the job they have
dimension of imagination ties in northeastern Ken- upon them both. from parents who fear the before them, but there is
Next stop The Twilight tucky-Flemingsburg). They both stood perfect- government and fear los- no need for some of the se.
Zone " So I looked at the direc- ly still and mean-mugged ing their children to agen-, crecy.
Rod Sterling. tion fromwhere the piercing me to the point where I cies that have case workers Some baby-boomers such
wails came from and guess started feeling guilty before who don't have children and as myself;, remain appalled
I was in the parking lot what I saw, dear reader? they both simplyturned to have never even raised a at the total breakdown of
of a fairly popular, regional I saw a young brat, maybe one another and, yep, you child, discipline in youth today
business the other day when five years old, poking an el- guessed it, returned to what Maybe the people who tell and we see where that road
the shrieking voice of a loud derly woman in the chest re- must have been a frequent- me these things are liars, leads And the ffamily rood-
youngster did more than peatedly with his extended ly-played loud version of I have no personal knowl- el'is, well, a strange looking
caught my attention; it was index finger, all the while their own little special game edge Of the inner workings animal indeed these days.
so loud, so repetitive and so shrieking at the top of his called "YOU'RE A STUPID of such agencies, due to the I am staunchly against
violent in volume and tone, lungs "YOU'RE A STUPID I" very secret nature of them child abuse, but I am very
that it couldn't be ignored !" After an eternity the truck and with the courts sur- pro-child discipline. There
The single sentence that I froze, as if I had just en- which was hauling the dy- rounding all things related is a difference.
was shrieked over and over tered The Twilight Zone. namic duo pulled out of to children. Few things in this world
was somewhat difficult to I just stood their slack- the parking lot with reverb I've always thought secret are as destructive to a corn-
understand at first, but after jawed staring at the pitiful shrieks echoing down the agencies were anti-Ameri- munity as a spoiled brat
hearing it two dozen times sight; the elderly woman roadway as theywent, can but again, that's just a who grows into adulthood
in a voice loud enough to trying as best as she could I was the only one left in personal perspective,with the same mind set that
peel paint, I understood it as to simultaneously be invis- the parking lot. I have never had any per- anything the child does is
"YOU'RE A STUPID "I' ible and stillherd this young I felt like I had just wit- sonai or professional deal- acceptable.
can't print the last word, but Tasmanian-Devil-of-a-brat nessed some sort of social ings with any social worker I don't know very much
Webster refers to it as "afe- toward her truck, rape, which had victimized that I am aware of due to any about the bully situation in
male dog." He gave a good three me as well as the elderly family, personal or other is- the local schools, except to
The shrieking went on shrieks and stiff-armed woman, sue, as I am defmitely on the say that it does exist and I'd
and on, "YOU'RE A STU- pokes with each reluctant The child's behavior has "outside looking in." bet some of the bullying is
PID I YOU'RE A STUPID step. disturbed me even more But I continue to hear bad done by children like Tas-
I" I went from being than that of the victimized things and thus Ihave prom- manian Devil Junior who
The rude sentence, spo- shocked to being embar- woman, judging by her reac- ised myself that if the Good will grow up "never doing
ken so frequently and force- rassed, which quickly gave tion, or rather her decision Lord is willing, I will begin anything wrong" and pro-
fully, that I'm sure it would wayto shame for the woman not to react, my own investigative work tected by failed agencies
have shamed a drunken and then simple disgust. I am told that 'social ser- on these services in relation and guardians.
sailor, demanded my atten- "I sure hope you bust his vices' working in conjunc- to how many children in the It isn't wrong to let chil-
tion: perhaps a lunatic had little rear end!" I said in a tion with law enforcement region are impacted and dren know they aren't the
escaped from some insane voice louder than I actually agencies have sabotaged whatever else I can. ones in charge. It isn't
asylum and was making his meant to use when I finally family discipline and some It is also my understand- wrong to discipline a chiM
way through the middle of came out of my stupor,case workers for CFHS are ing that case workers and when they need it, either in
my local community (that's For a split second, grand- causing more problems their supervisors earn their private or in public.
right, this occurred in day- ma and the shrieldng Tas- than they are solving. I can't pay through tax revenue, so
light in normal business manian Devil froze, and say if there is any truth to they work for us; it isn't the
W
By Cecil Lawson
Looking out the office
window, it's a nice sunny fall
day, maybe a little warmer
than the season demands,
ONE
days I've actually taken off lnm, the movement reach-
from reporting since March hag its limit before turning
2011. back and heading the other
And then Saturday I way. One experiencewould
went to both Preston and
Mt. Sterling Court Days.
I moved with the crowds,
took lots of pictures, and en-
joyed the food smells.
The contrast between the
relative quiet of hiking in
the hills and the crush of
the Saturday crowds was in-
teresting, even instrhctive.
enrich the other.
But it seems like some-
thing in our present world
has broken down, that fluid
movement back and forth,
back and forth, between sol-
itude and community. Now
it is either one or the other.
Think of the present em-
phasis on sports ,for our
THE OTHER
of the World Trade Center
Towers collapsing in 2001,
and most of us today share
our personal tragedies and
dramas through Facebook.
Technology and the abil-
ity to communicate have
changed so rapidly in the
last 20 years that we have
not had time to get used to
these changes and develop
manners and rules of civil-
ity that preserve both truly
communal part of.commu-
event to cover in the eve- In a broader sense, there outside of school.
uing, and I'm waiting for is a time for solitude, and But except for a few
any emergency situations to there is a time for commu- sports such as tennis, or
happen, nity. One situation always golf, and some track and
I sit here and think about nourishes and enriches the field events, the room for
how far I've come. About other, individual achievement is
three years ago, I had just That source of ancient, set aside for the value of
finished up with graduate uncanny Chinese wisdom, teamwork. The collective
school and was waiting for the Tao Te Ching, has a pas- element tends to dominate
my diploma and applying sage that is strikes the nail in youth sports, overshad-
for professors' positions, on the head: owing individual effort.
Two years ago, I was pull- When one recognizes On the other hand, most
ing weeds and digging post beauty as beauty, ugliness ap- of our personal pursuits
holes and counting my pen- pears; today are incredibly isolat-
nies. Last year, I had this When one recognizes good ing. While the internet
job but was enduring a lot of as good, evil appears; connects us all in incredible
personal and office turmoil Therefore ways, just take a moment
here at the paper. Being and non-being grow to watching people textiugl
Today, I have a lot to be out of one another, or chatting with someone
grateful for. I feel very for- Difficult and easy cmnplete on a computer. While they
tunate to even have a job. I one another, are absorbed in what is hap-
look at how much people Long and short contrast pening on a 4 inch or a 17
around me struggle with one another, inch screen, they literally
their workplaces, how far High and low positionturn their backs on the rest
they have to drive, how un- each other, of immediate world around
deremployed so many are. Loud and soft depend on them.
Recently I peeled myself eachother, The same is true ofwateh-
away from my desk and Front and back define each ing a movie or a TV show,
my writing pad and took other and even reading a book.
a long hike with my friend Neither solitude nor com- We live in a world today
Tom around a new trail in munity exists without each that, for good or ill, is heavi-
Boonesborough and up on other.Each defines the ly regulated and which forc-
the Pinnacles near Berea. other, es us to deal with people in
It was the first long hike In an ideal world, I sup- ways that our parents' never
I've taken since 2010 on the pose the movement back dreamed. The easy small
Sheltowee Trace Trail at and forth between solitude town experience of the past
Clear Creek. and community would is gone. We all shared in
It was also one of the few move like a clock's pendu- watching repeated footage
butnice e e The crowds confirmed J$ids. e, w tourkids nications apart from the ingcredit.
It's 0ii ' ose:i ry my own persbnal lo e " of 0b, ,actiyea:gdhe l yan merely t king aloud to no It is because he takes no
rare days when I'm: ught quiet and solitude, but 'the iijb /'them lwes as Well 9ne in particular, credit
up with my writing for the hike showed me that life is as have the opportunity for
week, maybe I've got one notmeanttobelived:aloiae, socializing with other kids
At the same time, these that credit cannot be taken
changes have been incred-: from him.
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That same chapter of the it. We don't have to cling to
Tao Te Ching continues: the isolation that our tech-
The wise person nology makes possible, and
acts without doing more we don't have to hide inside
than necessary; a crowd.
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