They Must Have Been Stupid

They must have been stupid. 

They let their kids ride bicycles in the street—without helmets!  They fed their kids bologna sandwiches on white bread.  They let their kids drink small amounts of beer and wine—and even champagne on special occasions.  They let their kids light fires in outdoor fire pits, and let them eat the hot dogs and marshmallows they cooked over those fires.  They let their kids shoot BB guns—at birds!  They let their kids have sleepovers with friends in tents in the back yard.  When the kids were playing outside in the hot summer sun—without sunscreen—and got thirsty, they told the kids to drink water out of the garden hose.

They told their boys that if other students picked on them at school, to not be afraid to fight—but not with girls, because boys shouldn’t hit girls.

They told their kids that certain things were right—or good, and other things were wrong—or bad.  Their kids understood that breaking of the rules would likely result in spankings—and even in slaps in the mouth if the rules broken included things such as saying bad words or back-talking.  When the kids got to be about age 11 or so, the parents would go out at night and leave the kids home by themselves.

But these parents have finally been exposed and are in the process of being punished for their misdeeds.  

They were my parents—and they were the parents of many of the people of my generation.  Our parents are being punished by our society’s showing them how wrong they were. This society is more and more invalidating the things our parents taught us. 

I guess that’s the legacy with which our parents have been left, because according to the developing mores of our current society, our parents must have been stupid.