I posted this last year after a
school shooting. In lieu of today's
events in Connecticut, I thought it appropriate to post again. According to reports, 27 people, including 18
children and the gunman, are dead. One
can only look at events like these and wonder how something like this could
happen. I, for one, believe that forcing
God out of our society is the major cause.
The following is my opinion of where we are as a society, written
several years ago but still pertinent today.
I would ask that all believers pray for the victims and families of this horrible tragedy. May God comfort them all as only He can.
Let God Back In
I have been watching the news of the
latest school shootings, this time at a high school in Omaha, Nebraska. I
first posted this a couple of months ago but given the circumstances I thought
it should be posted again. Once more I ask - what is it about America
that has turned our young people into murderers? Will it
ever end? If so, how?
In August of 1966, Charlie Whitman, a
product of an abusive home, a former Marine and a student at the University of
Texas in Austin, opened fire on the city of Austin from atop the university
tower. An expert marksman, he killed 14 people and injured dozens of
others before finally being killed by police. While
Whitman's story is somewhat different than the shootings happening in our
schools today, he was the first. He started this insanity.
Since the tragedy at Columbine High
School in 1999, there have been so many incidents that people aren't shocked
anymore. Saddened yes, but shocked - no. It
happens everywhere from major cities to small town Arkansas and North
Carolina. It happens in all levels of society and the perpetrators are
from various families, with money and without.
Monday's tragic carnage at Virginia
Tech is just another example of society gone wrong. It's
time to stop looking at these killers as disturbed individuals and begin
looking at them as a group. We need to find out what is turning
these kids into monsters and we need to find out quickly.
People can say what they want about
what I write here but this is my take on the whole thing:
In 1946, Dr. Benjamin Spock published
his first book on raising children. A highly intelligent man who meant no
harm, Spock and his book were the beginning of the downfall of the young people
in this country. Spock told parents to be more relaxed and flexible and to be
more of a friend to their children, treating them as individuals. He said spanking
them was harmful.
Until this information became
popular, discipline in the home was one of the top priorities. Of
course there were parents who went overboard, as there are today. But
children were raised to respect the law, their elders, their country and each
other. In the 1950s, children (teenagers included) were polite and
respectful for the most part. They got in trouble but didn't blame
society or their parents. They had a good work ethic and got part-time jobs so they could
have spending money instead of having it given to them. When
they were old enough, if they wanted a car, they worked to save the money to
buy what they could afford instead of having Mommy and Daddy buy them a new
one. They did what their parents told them to do and would never even
imagine the idea that they could sue their parents if they weren't happy about
something.
They went to church with their
families, ate meals with their families and prayed; not only in church but at
home and even in school. They said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school and
proudly stated “one nation, under God.” There was no shame and no one
complained about their rights being violated.
Dr. Spock’s well intended books
encouraged parents to stop teaching their children the three R’s: respect,
responsibility and reason. Instead he promulgated the idea of
children doing what they wanted, when they wanted, without worrying about the
consequences. I know he didn’t mean to do this. But
this was the result. When parents stopped punishing their children for doing
something wrong, those children stopped learning the consequences of their
actions.
To get a glimpse of the major changes
that began in the Spock generation, look at the difference between the young
people of the 1950s and the young people in the 1960s. The 60s
generation was the beginning of the result of Spock’s influence on American
parents. Young people changed their appearance dramatically because they
didn’t want to conform to society’s rules. And their Spock-trained parents
hugged them and encouraged them to be individuals. They
began to experiment openly with chemical substances. (Not
that substance abuse hadn’t been going on already but it was never in public
until the 60s.) They began to leave home and family and flock together to places
where they could do what they wanted and not worry about consequences. They
did what they wanted without conscience because as children they were hugged
and encouraged when they did something wrong instead of disciplined and taught
consequences.
Somewhere in the middle of this Spock
influence another group of Americans began telling us what we were doing
wrong. They began telling the U.S. courts their rights were being
violated by the vast majority of Americans and that things needed to
change. Somewhere, somehow, amidst all of the other negative changes in
this country, atheists began wielding power in the courts and convinced the
Supreme Court that they (Atheists) were being abused.
In 1963, Madeline Murray (she didn’t
become O’Hare until after this court case) won a decisive court battle that
eventually ended prayer in public schools. While it took a while for prayer in
school to totally disappear, it was this woman and this case that eventually
stopped children from being allowed to pray in school. And it
was just another pathway to a tragic future for our children.
Throughout the next forty years
atheists continued working to stop the majority of people in this country from
practicing and living their religious beliefs in public because it “violated
their rights as non-believers.” In 2002, an atheist in California
convinced the Supreme Court that subjecting his son to the words “under God” in
the Pledge of Allegiance was harmful and violated his rights. The
Supreme Court, in all their wisdom, decided because the words “under God” made
this man feel uncomfortable the practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance
by school children must cease.
It’s called “living constitution”
philosophy, which allows that judges decide what the Constitution meant rather
than following the Constitution as written. Two of three Supreme Court Justices
decided this man’s discomfort was more important than the beliefs of the
overwhelming majority of Americans. And these same judges “swear or
affirm” that they will uphold the law and judge cases to the best of their
abilities “so help me God.” I don’t know how they could be
qualified to make a decision involving God or religion after taking that
particular oath. ??
For the next four decades the circle
of life continued. The children of the 60’s generation grew up with less discipline
and less values than their parents. They, in turn, taught their children
even less responsibility and respect until, in the 90’s, children grew up
thinking their parents and society in general owed them something. Many
parents agreed and gave their children everything. They
meant well. They only wanted their children to have the best in life. Sadly
however, their children don’t know the value of a dollar, how it feels to work
hard to get something you want, or what it means to wait for something until
you can get it yourself.
My siblings and I were born in the
late 40’s and throughout the 50’s. We were raised by parents who not
only didn’t agree with Dr. Spock’s ideas but who had an idea what the results
would be. We were spanked – sometimes even with a belt or a switch – and
had our mouths washed out with soap for using bad language or talking
back. We spent time in our rooms for bad behavior and were grounded
for a week or two at a time. We were made to apologize to people
if we did them wrong and made to take responsibility for our actions. We
suffered whatever consequences arose from those actions. Through
all the punishments we received over the years none of us felt we were abused
or would ever have thought of calling the police or taking our parents to
court.
We went to church on Sundays,
sometimes twice. We prayed before eating dinner together as a family, at night
before going to sleep, in school and in restaurants before a meal, and anytime
we felt we needed to talk to God. We were taught to respect other people
and their beliefs, even if their beliefs were different than ours. We
would never have asked that others be prevented from practicing their beliefs
just because we didn’t believe the same thing. We were
taught to love and respect our country and flag and that it’s sometimes
necessary to defend them.
We grew up in this manner, completely
opposite of the way Dr. Spock said we should be raised. Yet we
grew up to be honest, hard working, God fearing people who still respect other
people, our country, individual rights and your freedom to believe as you
wish. We have all successfully raised children in the same
manner. Each of those children has respect for their parents, for other
people, for God and their country.
We never killed anyone in school when
we were growing up and neither did our kids. We were
disciplined and taught to love and respect others no matter how different they
were. We
risked going to jail or being sued by our kids and spanked them, grounded them
and sent them to their rooms when they did something wrong. They
had to apologize and make things right when they wronged someone. And I’m
pretty sure most of our kids even tasted soap at one time or another when they
were little. I know mine did. They were taught about God, His love,
prayer and faith. They went to school in the 90’s and 2000’s. They
never brought a gun to school and never killed a classmate or a teacher. And
fortunately for them (thank God), none of them ever had to face a gun at school
either.
So how do we correct this growing
problem of school violence and kids who kill? Activist Michael Moore
thinks gun control is the answer. Those who believe gun control will
stop people from having guns and shooting people are sadly mistaken. I, for
one, believe the answer lies with every parent and with God. Teaching
our kids discipline, respect for others, principles and family values, teaching
our kids that hard work and perseverance to achieve something are more
rewarding than having everything given to them, and bringing God back into our
homes and schools are the first steps toward healing our nation. You can
bet God was in Virginia Tech on that Monday and that many of those students and
faculty were talking to Him. He was in Columbine and in Arkansas
and in North Carolina.
I say let God back in and let Him,
along with their families, straighten out these disturbed kids. I could
be wrong. But what we’re doing now certainly isn’t working.
