Friday, October 25, 2013

The wussifying of America! AKA You don't have to try!

American Flags
I'm about fed up with the whole "everything has to be fair" fairy-tale we have weaved here in America.  It seems to have permeated every facet of our lives.  Oh, little Johnny has a lisp so we have to grade his test easier than the others.  Or little Susie has a hang nail so she shouldn't have to dress out for PE class today. Meanwhile, at your job your coworker has a belly ache from the bad take-out last night so he is a no-show today and that means twice the load for you.  Heaven forbid anyone do their job with a sour stomach.  After all, our Founding Fathers crossed the Ocean and fought the British for the right to use any excuse in the book to get out of anything and everything possible.  In two hundred short years we've managed to turn the land of fair opportunity into the land of whiny, excuse laden, slackers.


The source of my rant is this.  My 13 year old plays on his 8th grade football team.  The team plays in a small independent league.  There usually aren't organized football leagues on the state level below high school.  My Son's team has done exceptionally well this year.  So on this Saturday his team will host the first round of the league's playoffs.  Well the opponent contacted my Son's coach and said under no circumstances will they show up.  They know they can not win, so there's no point in coming.  Are you kidding me?  What lesson are we teaching the kids of the other team?  Oh good job boys, you made the playoffs but you can't win so we just aren't even going to try!  Really?  If you can't promise my kid a trophy then I won't let him go.  My older friends refer to this as, "the wussification of America".  The philosophy that says, "you probably aren't good enough so don't even try".  Just sit back and let someone else do it for you.  What if my Grandfather and his friends in the South Pacific had that attitude in 1941?  "Oh, those Japanese have really big battleships and they already beat us up at Pearl Harbor, so let's not even try".  Really?  What would this country look like it my Grandfather's generation had this wussified look on things?  How far has this country fallen in two short generations?


This whole notion of there are can't be any winners because it makes the other people (the losers) feel bad, is just some mamby pamby garbage.  If you have nothing to strive toward (winning) then we will all sit on the couch and become fat, lazy, apathetic, leaches of society.  In order to succeed you must take the risk of failing.  In order to win you must face losing head on.  In order to do anything in this life you must try, and if you don't succeed you must try again, and if you don't succeed you must try again.  The key is to try! Success does not come to those that wait or make excuses.  Good things do not happen to those that have the easy outs in life.  A strong America comes from hard work.  A strong country comes from strong competition.  It's time to stop giving out trophies to every kid just for showing up and start rewarding excellence again.  Then, just maybe, we will have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and be called the greatest nation on earth again.

Rant over!  For now!