|
|
|
Jewish World Review Feb. 25, 2013/ 15 Adar 5773 The slimeballs who tell our children they are defined by the groups into which they were born rob them of tasting the sweetest fruits By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It's "unfair" to be white, the University of Wisconsin-Superior is telling students. A school in suburban Denver has banned white kids from an after-school tutoring program. These bits of pernicious idiocy set me to musing. I'm a white guy who was born a little more than 65 years ago to parents of Irish and German descent, who grew up in rural Wisconsin. Of my race and ethnicity, I am neither proud nor ashamed. I don't think God loves whites any more than He does blacks, browns, yellows or reds, and I don't see any reason He should. I like being Irish and German (especially on St. Patrick's Day, and during Oktoberfest), but I don't think it's any better (or worse) than being Italian, or Chinese. I'm glad to be male, but of my gender I am also neither proud nor ashamed. For many years I thought women were better than men, chiefly because my mother was a stronger, better person than my father was (even though he was a really impressive guy). After some bizarre dating experiences, I for a time believed the opposite. But I rejected that as not a useful belief. There are obvious physiological differences, which impart advantages in particular circumstances (men are stronger, women have better fine motor skills). There are also psychological differences, which, again, impart advantages in particular circumstances (men tend to be more logical, women more empathetic). But any overall assessment of superiority/inferiority is hopelessly subjective, and counterproductive. Men and women are equal, but they are not the same. I think it preposterous that in every culture for most of history (and in the Muslim world still today) women have been regarded as inferior; appalling that in so many women have been treated as chattel. I'm a Christian, for which I'm extremely grateful, but not at all proud. Anyone who takes pride in being a Christian doesn't understand the program. Christ has offered you and me a gift for which I expect to be eternally grateful, but I don't pat myself on the back for having had the wit to accept it. I am proud to be an American. Despite many flaws, the United States of America is -- aside from a birth in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago -- by far the best thing that's ever happened to this world. I realize, though, that I ought to be more thankful than proud, since I am an American by accident of birth. The people who have a right to be proud to be Americans are those who made some effort to get here and become citizens. I want my country to be better than it is. I think it can be. We should recognize the good things about other nations, other cultures, and emulate them where appropriate. But no country is better than ours, or ever has been. I'm also proud of being from the rural Midwest. I think we develop values that city folk, especially those on the coasts, do not. (My wife, born and reared in New York City, disputes this.) I'm not proud of my generation, the first downwardly mobile generation in American history. We boomers were born into better circumstances than any generation before us, but we've accomplished less. We'll be remembered mostly for saddling our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt. Social Security and Medicare work the way they do, I told my daughter, because "we're greedy and you're stupid. We'll keep stealing from you as long as you let us." But I won't say I'm ashamed of the boomers, because it isn't fair or accurate to make sweeping generalizations about so large and diverse a group. In every generation, there are many who deserve praise, many who deserve contempt. People should be judged as individuals, by what they do in life. What I'm most proud of is having been a Marine. This isn't because I was especially good at it. It's because I had to endure and overcome so much to earn the right to wear the Eagle, Globe and Anchor on my collar, and, later, silver wings on my chest, a green beret on my head. The sweetest fruits in life are those we earned. Those for which we had to work the hardest and sacrifice the most taste best of all. The slimeballs who tell our children they are defined by the groups into which they were born rob them of the taste of these fruits. Your children and grandchildren will go farther in life if they join the Marines than if they matriculate at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration.
© 2013, Jack Kelly |
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles | |||||||||||
