Manhood Circa 2014

I could bore you with an "Its been a while and I'll never do it again" intro but I think we all know better. Life gets in the way and I don't get paid enough to do this thing as much as I enjoy it.

Now that that's out of the way lets discuss the topic at hand; Manhood. How many times have you heard Manhood (and not to be overlooked Womanhood) is dead? How often is it that some random old person starts a long winded story with "Back in my day" or "When I was your age"? Its practically a right of passage that once you get old enough you shit on those who come after you. I remember growing up waiting for the day I could tell the youth that followed me that their ways aint shit and we used to do shit for reals... not for play play (I was a bit of an oddball but anyone reading this should already know that) but that led me to thinking something, if every generation is supposedly weaker than the one before it than where in the hell are we gonna be in a decade's time?


This is no slight to all the generations that followed those of us born in 87'.... actually it is, matter of fact its a helluva lot of it, there's slight all over the place. Had they taken the challenge of the previous generations we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm not gonna deflect any blame from us, our generation got lazy and spoiled too. We were the 1st that had REAL video games that everyone could own (let that sink in for a minute) Nintendo, Sega all came out and were affordable during our time. The invention of the music video hit its peak and were practically mini-movies with big time Oscar award level actors playing roles as we were heading towards preschool. I may be biased but I feel ours is the one that bridges the gap between the lazy spoiled kids who refused to play outside and the hard working not knowing better walking uphill in snow ones who played in asbestos. Technology was jus good enough that we were advanced, but not too far that we were completely dependant. Cordless and cell phones came to prominence and showed you had arrived (See: Zack Morris #GetFamiliar) . Now you may be reading this and wondering "GET TO THE BLOODY POINT" why the history lesson Jel? (or Easy if you're nasty), you nostalgic for your youth? Simply put I want to paint a picture. I want to set a scene. I work with children on a daily basis and I see the simple lessons I was taught being skipped in favour of new things people to deem to be more important and it makes me wonder, did we need this or is this jus some new age bullshit that's furthering the softening of all of our future children.

This wouldn't even be an issue (or at least not as big of one) since I only work with children (so I'm learning to numb myself) but now that I've managed to someone have one (YAY! Im not sterile!) This has become something that I rack my brain about with worry. I know my son can't have my experiences, 1 its not fair (my experiences were far too awesome to share) and 2 its not going to fully benefit him. I grew up in a different time, when different rules applied, he wont be able to able 90's child rearing to a 2014 world. I heard the other day that children are being seriously disciplined (as far as expulsion) over throwing snow..... THROWING COT DAMN SNOW?!?! I would've never passed the 3rd grade!!!!! Why and when did society become so soft? I understand mental health and equality are our new focus and I can appreciate the strides we've made but lets not forget what made our societies awesome and strong in the 1st place. I feel the problem is that people who are studying society and not actually "living" it are to blame for this. There didn't need to be a study to tell anyone that kids need to play for an hour a day, cause we PLAYED EVERY DAY! ITS WHAT WE DID! We didn't have 3 or 4 hours worth of homework a night because we were KIDS! CHILDREN SHOULD NOT AND I REPEAT SHOULD NOT BE DOING THAT MUCH WORK A NIGHT!!!! I'm sorry I raised my caps voice but this is all extremely important. As a youth programmer I can SEE that children these days lack certain directions and reinforcements. Many of their critical thinking skills are woefully under developed but their egos and attitudes are running wild! (If you dont get the Hulkamania reference then.... I cant even finish that sentence) Don't get me wrong I think bullying to the point of suicidal/homicidal thoughts is wrong, I do but honestly speaking teasing and razzing is somewhat necessary *say it with me now* IN MODERATION. Kids cant get shit on all the time, its too much, but to make gettin shit on a criminal activity has caused an imbalance in ego and sense of self. How many people have built themselves into complete successes because they were teased and got a chip on their shoulder?As I said, I get it can't go too far and that's fine because it often does but without it, the drive to be and get better is lowering at a ridiculously rapid rate. Many kids need to be realistic and to get a kick in the ass motivationally and they aren't because we keep rewarding them with participation ribbons and telling them they're all always winners.

I can rant on this stupid feelings sparing-centric views that society has taken for days (trust me I can) but I want this to come full circle. One's experiences as a child and teenager shape them for adulthood (even Im being politically correct now, being too wimpy to jus say manhood but I respect my sistahs) Every little detraction or slight change in how we rear our children affects them into their adult lives. We stop letting them critically learn and decipher problems for fear that they'll fail. We made physical activity a punishment requirement rather than a fun alternative. Manhood in 2014 is much different that it was in 2004 let alone 1994 or 1984. In those days men and women (while stuck in traditionalist gender roles) had very different skill sets. Granted nowadays learning how to peruse the internet and fix malfunctioning tablets is astonishing to old school thinkers, its come at a cost of changing a tire, preparing a meal, fixing a sink or even HAVING A CONVERSATION (honest to God, the simplicities in having a conversation are all but extinguished due to Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Texting.... need I go on?) . The new skills kids are learning are valuable but lets not have them come at the expense of what made our childhood's nay our societies so great in the first place...

Man it feels good to be back and rant again.... I think I might make this a thing M.O.B!



@ItsJus2Easy