Tinsel Teeth and Adversity

My twelve year old daughter recently got braces. I told her to be prepared to hear crap like, "Tinsel Teeth" and ""Metal Mouth" when she went back to school. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked what I was talking about. Flabbergasted, I shared this with a friend in his early twenties and he said you don't hear that kind of stuff in school anymore. According to him and another friend who joined in the conversation, the schools will expel students for name calling on the basis of emotional suffering! Holy Mother of God!

No one in their right mind likes a bully or ignorant lout, but adversity builds character. I had severe asthma, military glasses, a crew cut, and a speech problem as a kid. I was a prime target for all of the idiot children. I didn't enjoy it a bit, but I learned to choose my battles well, to fight back when necessary, and to stand up for myself and others. My parents and teachers didn't save me and I did not expect them to. You can't teach street smarts or common sense. Both have to be developed by trial and error. If children can't learn them in a controlled environment like school, the world will eat them alive!

I remember the urban legend about recruits in basic training being issued stress cards. If the Drill Instructor was being too tough the recruit presents their stress card and the DI has to back off! Would that work in battle too? If it just gets too tough we quit and the compassionate enemy merely meanders off? Scary that it was based on an actual experiment!

When I was in boot camp at the tender age of seventeen, I understood that they would make or break recruits. Better to weed out the crybabies, wimps, and whiners early on than have them crack under stress and jeopardize many, many lives.

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved” – Helen Keller.

My friend, Puff, has a tattoo that says, "Stitches for Snitches." I was a cop for five years, but I still say learn to fight your own battles. Have some pride, dignity, and honor, that you have earned, not that some pantywaist flake tried to bestow upon you!

Thank you bleeding heart spineless Liberals for further emasculating our children to make up for your own failures. Dumb asses.