BY RUSSELL TURNER
MORE TRAINING
There is always a wrong and right way to do anything; a person must be able to identify a problem and take the proper action at the right time to solve it. For instance, if you intended to keep some horses in a barn would it be proper to shut the barn door after the horses already escaped? Simply installing more gates on the barn would not do any good until the horses were captured and returned to their stalls. The events in Ferguson, Missouri and the response from the White House should cause our citizens to take a hard look at the condition of our nation.
We Americans have gotten into a bad habit of treating the symptom instead of treating the disease. Fortunately most doctors try to find the root cause of an ailment and try to cure it instead of just treating the symptoms; sadly government doesn’t get any farther than the symptoms. While our president thinks expanding government and requiring more training for our police forces is the answer to preventing similar events such as Ferguson, I have some reservations regarding his solutions. While some additional police training may be of some help, I feel that we as a society have neglected the essential training of the children of this country. No amount of money will ever fix the problems of this country until we citizens take a look at what kind of example we are setting for the future generations.
When I was growing up I was taught that actions have consequences and it is my responsibility to conduct myself in a civilized manner. I was taught to respect everyone including my teachers and police officers. Many people haven’t been taught the virtues of giving and receiving respect. The two recent high profile cases in the news were brought about because of a lack of respect. Many of our young people idolize people of less than stellar character; it seems the more of a degenerate or dope head a famous person becomes the more they are idolized. Our entertainment is full of violence and deviant behavior; the things on prime time today were completely unheard of in my day. Whether we want to admit it or not we are indoctrinating our children to a lifestyle of poor behavior.
The unrest in our nation is a symptom of the effects of little to no self-discipline and personal responsibility being taught. The problems in our schools and our streets would not be there if a little more discipline was administered by today’s parents. When a parent such as Adrian Peterson comes under attack by the mainstream media for disciplining his child, there is next to nothing said about the disastrous effects of no discipline upon our society. Too many people don’t want to be bothered with such things and are willing to allow someone in the government to take care of it for them.
The French Historian Alex de Tocquoville said ‘America is great because she is good, but if she ceases to be good she will cease to be great“. While there are always some bad apples I feel that the vast majority of law officers are doing their job and are putting their lives on the line for the rest of us. More training may be the answer, but it should start at the home.
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