Just checking out this great show on TLC about the martial arts. Very good stuff. I'm still in awe of Bruce Lee's speed. Perhaps the only comparison is the hummingbird's wings. Totally amazing.
Also took me back to my youth, when we thought nothing of a free-for-all neighborhood wrestling match on the front lawn, overseen by watchful parents, involving every (male) kid on the block. Sanctioned violence if you will. This activity often accompanied neighborhood barbecues. My dad was even known to throw a pair of overstuffed boxing gloves on some of the younger kids and let them go at it. With the heavy, monster-size gloves on a pair of 10 yr olds, nobody really had a chance to hurt the other one. I remember a couple of bloody noses but that was it.
The sucker moms of today would probably do the patented "Rosie recoil-cringe" at such a sight but it wasn't a big deal and considered (gulp) normal behavior for boys between, say, 8 and 14 or 15.
Today, I can't think of any of those kids who turned out violent or warped or even aggressive. We established something of a pecking order, but that existed anyway regardless of the fights. It was all considered normal, healthy and perhaps even necessary.
I guess my question is, are "we" screwing up by trying to remove all vestiges of aggression and violence from society? I know the Liberals would love to promote "cooperative games" and even ban musical chairs for the aggressive behavior it instills in kids.
And of course, someone has to lose and that's never fun, maybe even a little humiliating. But doesn't humiliation lead to humility? The biggest pricks, the worst human beings I know, are those guys who were always bigger than everyone, who never got thier nose shoved in it. Getting whooped a little probably made me a better person and there's a certain life lesson in learning you aren't top dog.
Maybe if we had some more sanctioned violence, maybe if some of these pasty-faced suburban kids sitting around playing fantasy-violence games like DOOM would get out on their front lawn and go toe to toe, maybe if they learned some humility and also knew what it was like to dominate an opponent, and maybe if some of these inner-city kids who seem perfectly willing to settle disputes with a hail of bullets in a drive by could just let go of some aggression (best way I ever found to do it was in a good brawl), maybe we'd be a BETTER SOCIETY, not worse for it.
Instead we tell young males to suppress all of those tendencies, even though we know every hormone in their system is compelling them to challenge each other, to assert dominance and establish an order based on fighting ability. It seems when we do this, we're asking the impossible. We're also channeling that aggression toward non-sanctioned violence.
Do you remember that taste in your mouth? When you got going really good and that semi-mettalic saliva-ish taste would come up from the back of your throat somewhere. I'll bet there's kids growing up today who've never experienced that. Their parents probably consider themselves "enlightened" and actively discourage anything that even remotely resembles competetive aggression of any kind. These types of parents are busy encouraging "self-esteem" and "character development" and every other buzz-word de jour without the faintest idea that what Billy really needs is to know how he stacks up mano a mano with little Timmy across the street.
Give me the kids wrestling on the front lawn any day if it keeps the Harris and Klebolds of the world in check. Give me 10 year olds trading punches if it provides an outlet for aggression that replaces drive-by's.
Rant out.
Also took me back to my youth, when we thought nothing of a free-for-all neighborhood wrestling match on the front lawn, overseen by watchful parents, involving every (male) kid on the block. Sanctioned violence if you will. This activity often accompanied neighborhood barbecues. My dad was even known to throw a pair of overstuffed boxing gloves on some of the younger kids and let them go at it. With the heavy, monster-size gloves on a pair of 10 yr olds, nobody really had a chance to hurt the other one. I remember a couple of bloody noses but that was it.
The sucker moms of today would probably do the patented "Rosie recoil-cringe" at such a sight but it wasn't a big deal and considered (gulp) normal behavior for boys between, say, 8 and 14 or 15.
Today, I can't think of any of those kids who turned out violent or warped or even aggressive. We established something of a pecking order, but that existed anyway regardless of the fights. It was all considered normal, healthy and perhaps even necessary.
I guess my question is, are "we" screwing up by trying to remove all vestiges of aggression and violence from society? I know the Liberals would love to promote "cooperative games" and even ban musical chairs for the aggressive behavior it instills in kids.
And of course, someone has to lose and that's never fun, maybe even a little humiliating. But doesn't humiliation lead to humility? The biggest pricks, the worst human beings I know, are those guys who were always bigger than everyone, who never got thier nose shoved in it. Getting whooped a little probably made me a better person and there's a certain life lesson in learning you aren't top dog.
Maybe if we had some more sanctioned violence, maybe if some of these pasty-faced suburban kids sitting around playing fantasy-violence games like DOOM would get out on their front lawn and go toe to toe, maybe if they learned some humility and also knew what it was like to dominate an opponent, and maybe if some of these inner-city kids who seem perfectly willing to settle disputes with a hail of bullets in a drive by could just let go of some aggression (best way I ever found to do it was in a good brawl), maybe we'd be a BETTER SOCIETY, not worse for it.
Instead we tell young males to suppress all of those tendencies, even though we know every hormone in their system is compelling them to challenge each other, to assert dominance and establish an order based on fighting ability. It seems when we do this, we're asking the impossible. We're also channeling that aggression toward non-sanctioned violence.
Do you remember that taste in your mouth? When you got going really good and that semi-mettalic saliva-ish taste would come up from the back of your throat somewhere. I'll bet there's kids growing up today who've never experienced that. Their parents probably consider themselves "enlightened" and actively discourage anything that even remotely resembles competetive aggression of any kind. These types of parents are busy encouraging "self-esteem" and "character development" and every other buzz-word de jour without the faintest idea that what Billy really needs is to know how he stacks up mano a mano with little Timmy across the street.
Give me the kids wrestling on the front lawn any day if it keeps the Harris and Klebolds of the world in check. Give me 10 year olds trading punches if it provides an outlet for aggression that replaces drive-by's.
Rant out.