If you ask any parent in America what they want for their children, they will of coarse say, "I want them to be happy." What are we doing to our children?
I started to see it in my generation and the people a few years younger than me. People were starting to be more and more insecure. As a whole our decisions were becoming more selfish and our relationships more shallow. But this next generation has got nothing on the Nintendo generation.
It just doesn't seem to compute. I'm still a very linear logic person. But this next generation isn't like that at all. It's not that they use circular logic or linear logic. It's doesn't matter that they don't make sense. It's not that they are stupid kids. They just don't care. It is a generation of instant gratification. They get what they want when they want it. There is no waiting, no saving up, no waiting till you're older, and there is absolutely no way to say "no."
I go to Wal-Mart and the woman next to me has a boy in the cart screaming, "Buy me a watch! You are going to buy me a watch!" This outright demanding goes on for a good five minutes. Mean while she keeps offering him half the store to appease him. And sure enough, she bargins with her child. "If I buy you a watch will you be happy and stop this?" His response, "You will buy me that watch." She does. And I wonder if she will ever learn, or will her boy grow up with things that will make him happy for about an hour before he tosses it aside. I'd hate to be his first wife, or his forth.
We are raising a generation that gets its money from its parents, its morals from Laguna Beach, and gets absolutely anything they want. A whole society with daddy's credit card and this fall's hottest fashions. Their hero's are Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan (God save us). And the worst part is that we are doing it to them. We are raising our kids to have everything that we didn't, and it is crippling them. You send the message that you need to take what you can when you can get it and then wonder why there are so many "hook ups" or one night stands or friends that just have sex with each other. You send the message that just do it now and clean the mess or pay the bill later and wonder why teens are having abortions and cleaning the mess with no moral quams about it.
We are crippling our children with candy bars and watches. We are trading good morals and good work ethic for a cute hat that will go out of style next week.
God save the Queen.
Happy
Just Drive Kid... Just Drive.
I fell in love with driving the way I fell in love with music. Its not that I've ever been exceptional at either, but there is something about driving the open road with the windows down and the music up. It's almost like poetry in motion. The sensation of the wind on your face, combined with the smells of the scenery, and flowing melody of the music (picked according to your mood) is a form of art that can't be displayed in any museum or gallery. The gallery is the world and the canvas is the road.
And just like my favorite songs, there are stretches of road that I return to. There a many roads to drive and each are different. Each has a different rhythm and meter and some take some unexpected turns, but there are just certain roads that hold that same feeling as the songs that never get old. Here are some of my favorites.
1. Route 23 when you descend into Ottawa and you can see the whole river valley.
2. The bridge across the Mississippi River outside Hannibal. The whole downtown is lit up at Christmas time and it looks like the whole hill side has stars on it.
3. The last stretch of Eldeman on my way back home.
4. Airport Rd. on the way to LCC. The road has more memories than it has gravel.
5. Skyline Drive across the Shenandoah River Valley... Breathtaking.
What is your favorite Road?
The Legend of the Coon-Bear
Disclaimer: Those with a heart condition should not read this blog.
Some say that the Coon-Bear is just a myth, an urban legend told around the campfire in mid-America to scare young boys. "Don't stray too far or the Coon-Bear might get ya..." Others claim it was invented to promote the carrying of firearms at all times. And some yahoo's up in Wisconsin think it is a government experiment gone terribly wrong. But the truth is much more disturbing. Few people have seen the Coon-Bear and lived to tell the tale. And none forget. This is there story.
Our story begins as every good scary campfire stories should, with a couple of young (good looking) guys packing up the car to go camping. You see there were four friends that had been separated after college. Two of them known as "The Brothers Hughes" because... they were brothers... and their last name was Hughes, lived near Indianapolis. Tyler and Adam were true blue and inseparable. Tyler was creative guy and what he lacked for in hair, he made up with personality. Adam who didn't inherit the Hughes receding hairline was a sharp looking kid who was one of those guys everyone liked because when he was in the room you never knew what was going to happen next.
The Brothers Hughes were driving north to the shores of the Great Lakes to meet up with there friends Nick and Lucas. Tyler had convinced them all to get together and record a podcast at a campsite near the Indiana Dunes. The four friends hadn't been united since college and they were looking forward to getting away for a little while. They had no idea what they might encounter. As Tyler and Adam pulled into the campground they were greeted by a rather sickly looking man running the gate and an elderly security guard strait out of a scooby-doo cartoon. As the gate man pushed his round glasses up on his nose he said in a shrill voice, "Yes, I believe your friends are expecting you at campsite 104." The security guard had a look on his face like he almost swallowed his own tongue, and had Tyler or Adam seen that look they might have understood better what followed.
Nick and Lucas had the tent set up by the time the brothers got to campsite 104. Nick and Lucas lived and worked in the Chicago-land area and just buzzed right over to the beach. Nick and Lucas were the Ying and Yang of their professions. Lucas was sarcastic and dry, the kind of guy that isn't afraid of anything but people that cry. Nick enjoyed dialoguing with anyone about anything (hence the cellphone attached to his head) and really had a soft spot in his heart for hurting people. The reunion of the four was heartfelt and exciting. In no time at all the four had prepared the campsite, acquired food, and were set up for a memorable night.
They recorded their podcast that evening. They laughed hard and talked about life. To this day you can hear their recording by downloading it. If you listen, you can almost hear how much fun they were having. But in the background there is another sound...
After they had eaten a hardy meal and sat around the campfire long into the night, they put all their garbage in one heavy duty bag and tied it to the table outside their tent. All the rest of the food was packed away... well almost all of it.
Just as they were closing their eyes in the tent. The four boys heard what would later be described as a something that sounded like a man wearing boots dragging a shovel. It was one of those sounds that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and make you question your bravery. After what seemed like an eternity of fear, three of the four made preparations to investigate. Nick went back to his childhood assurances as he grabbed two flashlights. Adam did what he does best and started "dual welding" two hatchets. Lucas left with nothing else looked ridiculous in his union suit and boots clutching a yellow whiffleball bat. The three went to investigate. Tyler stayed. Whether he was too scared, or too tired know one ever found out.
The camp was still. Nothing was disturbed, but the bag of trash was gone. Not rummaged through, not opened, just ripped clean off the table it was tied too. And there... six feet into the tree line was the bag. Bait on the hook. Adam lumber off to get it with the swagger and sigh that accompanies a man who has been woken up and wants to return to his warm bed as soon as possible. He was two feet from the bag and reaching when his friends shouted. "Adam no!" Adam quickly recoiled and faster than a rattlesnake he was back out of the forest. Just peaking over the bag of trash was the head of a raccoon. But it was no coon. The 40 gallon trash bag barely hid the body of this creature. No one had told the boys about the Coon Bear, but if they had been told, they would have let the giant bandit keep the bag.
The three began shouting, shining light, and making advances toward the beast. The Coon Bear was unafraid but began to climb the nearest tree. It lumbered up the tree ready to pounce. Adam warily approached with his hatchets and grabbed the trash. The Coon Bear came down the tree matching Adam step by step as he backed away. The creature stood on its hind legs and glared at Adam as Adam locked the trash in the trunk of the car. It never broke its stare with Adam until all three of the boys were in the tent. It's funny how we believe a thin layer of nylon and a zipper will protect us and makes us feel safe.
It seemed like the boys had only shut their eyes for five minutes when the tent began to shake. They heard the child-like chatter of raccoons. A lot of them. It seemed to come from everywhere. There was a bag of jerky that didn't make it into the trash. We would like to think that was what the raccoons began to fight over, but that didn't explain why the tent was surrounded. Then the snarls came. Then the assault on the tent. The animals were possessed. They would wrestle and slam up against the tent. The snarls got worse and worse until... silence.
...
The boys arose with the sun... and Nick's alarm that sounded three times. Exhausted, but intact Tyler, Nick, and Lucas began to recap the night with phrases like "No, you were scared!" and "Can you believe that?!" "What did you think Adam?...Adam?" Adam was gone. His sleeping bag was not rummaged through and not torn... Adam was just gone. He was not in the tent. He was not by the fire. He was not at campsite 104.
When the park ranger got to site 104 it was deserted. The camp had been packed up and boys had left. No ones knows what happened after that. Their story is not told. It is assumed they returned to their lives, but I doubt they could forget that night. To this day you can listen to their podcast and hear their carefree banter. But some still say that if you listen closely you can still hear the child-like chatter coming from the woods.
Some still say you can hear the Coon Bear.