Where Are the Adults in the Room?
It's been a while since I last wrote on this blog. I pay $12 a year to keep the domain name, so I really need to just write more. I have been busy trying to still change the world with like-minded people. As many of you know, I have been involved in Amnesty International since the age of 19, officially a member since 2000. Human rights are my passion, and also being a mother. My sons are now 15 and 16, becoming young people in their own right. The 15-year-old is a fighter, as I come to recognize. The 16 is a philosopher of sorts, very good in math. I have hope for their future. Unfortunately, the future of a lot of our young people looks bleak. This is why I work with others to make the world better, the world I live in. The goal of any generation in any society is to make the world better for the next generations. Smug, it may seem, but that's my aim. I just need to read the news and it saddens and motivates me.
Nationally and locally, our world is violent. A young man, the same age as my sons, was shot while playing basketball on the southeast side of my city. I cried when I read the news. As a mother, it hurts when a young person dies as I could never want to imagine that pain, especially so violently. This generation not only has to worry about street violence but their schools being shot up while attending class. Since kindergarten, my sons have participated in "lockdowns" and "active shooter" drills. Now in High School, this has all become their normal. And what are the adults in the room arguing about? Gun rights. They are fighting over guns while our children die.
I do not advocate for the total banning of all guns, realistically, that would be unwise. I do favor the banning of weapons of war. Why do gun rights advocates want guns that are designed specifically to kill people? It is beyond explanation as to why they desire weapons of war that are capable of mass murder when realistically they should just be for protection, sport, and/or hunting. Plus, are you really a skilled marksman if you can just spray an area with bullets and hit something? You are no better than those psychotic wannabe gangsters who do drivebys and do not care who you hit. You all are one and the same. Unless you are expecting something worse to come your way, I don't know a zombie apocalypse? Anyway, I noticed none of us are really adults in the room. We threatened to take toys away from some of us, but you know, your rights, our rights. So lockdowns and active shooter drills will continue beyond this generation.
Speaking of the lack of adults in the room, the COVID pandemic had this generation's children learning from home for a year and a half. Meanwhile, the grownups were fighting over wearing masks and getting vaccinated. As adults were the main ones dying from this, it was leaving children without parents and caregivers. Children were made to stay home missing out on basic educational and social needs. Some graduated from school without the celebrations and missed out on almost two years of their lives. But where were the adults? Fighting over wearing a fucking mask.
Now, you all have taken reproductive rights away from a whole generation, in some states. We are the lucky ones in the state that I live in, but what if those same misogynist people take over power here? We need to pass a state constitutional amendment in Illinois to protect future generations. We need to add a national amendment protecting reproductive rights for future generations, but I'm not sure if the adults in the room will come through for them. It is a right that I was privileged to grow up with and lived with until now. Now, many young people will not share this basic human right anymore.
Another is the climate issue. We need to change the way we do things. We need to change how our economy works and decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. But, again, the adults in the room are missing, even arguing if it's real. I see the extreme weather, surely, our habits and our consumption is not helping. To be honest, we are all hypocrites when it comes to this issue. Supporting companies and buying goods that poison us while we want more and more. Our young people seem to be the most outspoken on this issue, which is wonderful, but I think it's because the adults have left the room. I think we are actually counting on the children to save our environment! When I think they were and are looking to us to do it! I get angry that we seemed to throw our hands up, and say, "Well, it's up to you all!" Honestly, it's about controlling our consumption and regulating companies, which even young people are guilty of not doing. But as adults, we could help change this attitude.
Yes, the public education system is a huge target. It always has been, since Reagan. The adults are attacking teachers, books, sexuality, and any other shit they can think of, let alone the tax issue. This is probably the underlining reason why many use the gun rights issue to attack public schools. I mean, if public schools are not safe from shooters, then not only will the gun manufacturers get rich off the blood of our children, but people will pull their children from the public school system. Are you all following me? No public education, no educated public, will lead to cheap labor. Or like the Musks and Gates of the World like to say, "We will be more labor competitive on the global market." This leads me to the deterioration of child labor laws in our country.
In some states, they are reversing child labor laws to let 14-year-olds work longer hours, and 16-year-olds work in meat packing plants. Really? So we'll let them work in coal mines once again. The images of small children working in West Virginia in the late 19th century instead of attending schools? A 14-year-old should be going to school, and maybe mowing lawns in the summer. A 16-year-old should be working fast food, retail, or bagging groceries. Or if you are as lucky as my sons, working at their Dad's engineering firm scanning documents. Anyway, reversing child labor laws is not the answer to our supposed labor shortage. In my opinion, I think it's just an excuse to exploit cheap labor and defund our educational system. The wealthy are killing two birds with one stone, and the adults in the room are letting them. I have actually heard arguments from some people that state that if parents want their children to work those jobs to help provide for the family, they should be allowed to make that choice. Wait, what? No. Our society should be moved beyond that line of thinking. Then again if we buy diamonds that are mined in other nations where they let a five-year-old down a shaft to get that bling for a ring, what makes our American children so special from them? Racing to the bottom has been our motto since the 1980s, why should America be so different?
The mental health issues that this younger generation is facing are unprecedented. Today, I read an article from AP (Associated Press) that young people today are facing a high rate of suicide and homicide. The article states,
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report examined the homicide and suicide rates among 10- to 24-year-olds from 2001 to 2021.
The increase is alarming and “reflects a mental health crisis among young people and a need for a number of policy changes,” said Dr. Steven Woolf, a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher who studies U.S. death trends and wasn’t involved in the CDC report.
Experts cited several possible reasons for the increases, including higher rates of depression, limited availability of mental health services and the number of guns in U.S. homes." - (https://apnews.com/article/suicide-homicide-children-teens-cdc-39f78929068ba52336b6dccfd6289eb5)
So this is the world that it looks like I am leaving my sons and their generation. A world that is moving backward in human rights. A world that is on fire, drowning, and deteriorating. I only know that I can do my part by trying to make it better and encourage others, including the new generations to do better.
