Do you remember the first American President you were aware of at the time? In the moment? Mine was Ronald Reagan. I vaguely remember people talking about how worthless Jimmy Carter had been, and how Reagan had rescued our nation as well as the hostages in Iran. I only learned about stuff like Iran-Contra much later as an adult. This might provide a clue as to the leanings of the adults around me when I was growing up.
Not much has changed (despite my best efforts). This week, while delivering my oldest son to his computer coding dojo (he prefers the non-sweaty sort of dojo), the topic of government intervention arose due to a story on the radio. (The station shall remain unnamed so as to not cast undue prejudice upon the telling of the tale). My son quickly informed me he was against such legislation since it would take us one step closer to being subjected to the dictatorial evils of [name redacted and replaced with unoffensive generality] in the near future. (He has been learning about such things as fascism and totalitarianism in history class. This is something I would recommend for adults as well…if they can find a history class not based on current social-media-fabricated terminology.) My son then continued to rant about stupid kids at his school in a manner worthy of cable “news.”
I encouraged him by agreeing with his general premise, while trying to awaken him to the need for further nuance in order to more fully develop his world view. You know, to graduate from screaming meemie to thoughtful citizen (a rare status these days indeed).
Was it hard to resist the urge to imprint my personal beliefs directly on him? A little. But I’m taking a stance against the tepid and stagnant ocean of what passes for critical thinking theses days. I’m stubbornly convinced my son is intelligent enough to sort out the truth from the dreck if he is simply given the right tools to do so. I don’t think I have to tell him which presidents are/were egotistical maniacs (hint: I think they all are/were…except maybe Jimmy Carter who seemed to have been a sucky president precisely because he was not maniacally egotistical enough).
Do I deeply disagree with some of my son’s beliefs? Sure. But that’s okay. He’s fourteen. What the hell did I know when I was fourteen? What the hell do I know now? Me trying to imprint him or beat crappily constructed ideology out of him before he has even learned how to fully formulate an opinion doesn’t seem fair…or father-like for that matter. Heck, many of the adults I know cling to even more crappily constructed ideology.
Is all this crappy ideology due to the fact that not enough parents were willing to beat it out of us when we were fourteen? I can’t know for sure. But considering that my parents were much more willing to beat stuff out of me back in the day, I’m going to have to say no. We’re a lost cause. It’s over for us old fogies. Forget about it. The best we can hope for is that the next generations are able to get it increasingly more right.
Sometimes it is hard for me to disguise my opinion, and I’m positive these expressions have influenced my son’s beliefs. That’s okay too. At some point, he’ll have to sort it all out for himself. Ultimately, what I want for him is to be closer to the truth than I have been. With any luck, he’ll take away the solid bits of my core while casting off my bullshit prejudices in order to become a better human than I could ever hope to be.
At the Desk This Week
I guess I’m gonna be spending the next few months painting stuff. I can’t complain. I enjoy the work, but it means I won’t be spending a ton of time behind the desk. I’ve already found a nice used sprayer and a solid ladder. The guy selling the ladder wanted me to paint his house. I turned him down. At this point, I think I’m only gonna paint houses for old ladies I already know. That seems to be a reasonable method of keeping the work from overwhelming me.
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