Some thoughts about the past three years on children

[Benevolent_Rabbit]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or not, so here it is.

Obviously, children are impressionable. It is both a strength and weakness depending on the teachings and experiences that surround them. Good, caring parent(s) can make all the difference in the ways that a child perceives the world, but once they enter school, the larger world begins to play a ever larger role in their belief formation.

Consider a child who was 10 years old in the year 2000 - during the debates. They watched watched the news with primarily disinterest, but noticed that their parents reacted to events strongly one way or another. The childs family members old enough to probably still had jobs, were able to obtain student loans and pell grants for college, and generally were finding ways to get by.

They went to school, and found that the older kids were arguing all the time about the election. Who was a loser. Who was a thief and a liar. They learned that the Supreme Court (whatever that was) selected who was going to be president. It didn't seem that big a deal.

Fast forward to the present (in the interest of brevity).

That same child has seen probably at least one close member of their family lose a good job. They have seen two wars started - and continuing without seeming end. They have heard the president say things over and over again that turn out to be untrue. They have seen their elders become more hesitant to speak out because of the Patriot Act. They have therefore learned that lying, cheating, stealing, and even starting wars that kill innocent people have no negative consequences. The president still receives a majority of the country's blessing in his policies.

And now, they have learned that someone that has never held office of any kind, someone with policy beliefs that no one knows is now the frontrunner for the race of governor in the country's most populous state. A state that has the 5th largest economy in the world. A state that has, currently, a duly elected governor.

What are they supposed to think? How can they ever grow up without having their belief systems forever damaged? Of course, the parent(s) have an influence, but this child has to learn to survive in the larger world, and the one the parent(s) grew up in no longer exists.

Just a thought.