Then the 80’s happened.
Greed was good, according to “Wall Street” and it was every man (or
woman) for themselves. Screw the “we”;
what about the “Me”? Me, me, me. Like a bunch of Italian tenors warming up at
the Met. I can’t say I cared or knew
about this at the time. No, the 80’s for
me was all about surviving high school, finishing university and finding a job
(any job) that would pay the bills. Which
I did, to varying degrees of success and the utter surprise of my family. Busy times.
The next time I looked up, everything in the media was about
what my dad used to refer to with disgust as “The Big ‘I Am’”. Forget the collective good. Everyone was out for Number One, and screw
the rest of you pigeons. Bill Clinton
got nailed (pardon the pun) with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what was his
response? Did he hang his head in
shame? Did he turn faintly pink,
even? Nope. Goodtime Billy came out of the starting gate
with all guns blazing, defiant as a middle-aged European tourist in a Speedo,
talking about “that woman” and playing footsie with the English language to
slime his way out of the situation. Ew.
I read a quote from one of the NHL players at the hockey lock-out
talks yesterday. Eric Staal (captain of
the Carolina Hurricanes) said “…I feel…embarrassed to be part of this whole
situation” (the “situation” being the millionaire players and billionaire
owners arguing about money and screwing up the hockey season for the rest of us
schmucks). I’ll tell you, it just about
jumped off the page and slapped me in the face, it was so fresh. Who says
things like that nowadays? Is anyone embarrassed
about ANYTHING? You
see it in the news all the time: people
get caught doing unspeakable things, and not only are they not ashamed, they talk about their rights and their need to be
understood.
You know what our society needs right now? We need a heapin’ helpin’ of good old
fashioned shame. We need people like Eric Staal. We need people who aren’t saying “I’m sorry, but…”
(Newsflash: when you follow any
apology with “but”, you actually haven’t apologized.) People who are genuinely embarrassed by their
actions and want to make amends. That’s
what I want to see, anyways. In the
midst of the horrific Phoenix Sinclair inquiry (for those of you who don’t
know, she’s the little girl whose murder at the hands of her own mother wasn’t
discovered by child welfare agencies until well after the fact), it seems like
the last thing you’ll ever hear from anyone involved is that they’re ashamed of
what they’ve done, or what they omitted to do.
Twenty-six people are shot to death in Newtown (most of them
six-year-olds) and the NRA crowd isn’t ashamed of what their right to bear arms
has wrought. No, all they do is talk
about putting an armed guard in every school or giving every teacher a gun. (I wonder what happens when a guard or a
teacher shoots a student, accidentally or otherwise?)
I vote for the return of shame, pure and simple. Take ownership of what you’ve done, apologize
sincerely, and make an honest effort to make amends. It’s what I’ve tried to teach my three sons
to do, and they’re only nine and fourteen.
I’d like to think we’re all capable of doing the right thing.
Whether it’s with a Coke and a smile, or not.
I disagree with the right to bear arms thing and I think it is a completely separate issue from humility and the desire to make amends for wrongdoings. I agree that people need to admit their wrongs and make it right to the best of their ability and feel genuine shame for their mistakes. I think the world is not doing that. Selkirk Comp has a shooting range and had one when we went there. Many high schools had shooting classes - yet people didn't shoot each other in school shootings with the frequency as they are today. They did do it though. The gun is only as evil as the person holding it. If there are more evil people today, there will be more evil things happening. Criminals are not going to follow the gun laws - good people are. Which is why the bad people do shootings in places they know others do not have guns such as shopping malls and schools. I like your blog though. - Wendy
ReplyDeleteI get what you're saying, bud. When I mentioned the NRA, I wasn't looking to re-open the debate about the right to bear arms. That's beyond the scope of what I'm doing here. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree about that. I appreciate your comments though. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. :)
DeleteThis is one of the greatest apologies I have seen of late. He doesn't just say he is sorry, he explains why he was wrong.
ReplyDeleteWell put. Jason Alexander could have a whole other career as a professional apology writer if he chose. And I'm not being sarcastic about that. His apology was very thoughtful and very heartfelt, which are essential to any worthwhile apology. Thanks for letting me know about it. :)
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