Linkedin post had me thinking about America's young people
Anybody else on Linkedin? Being on this site with professionals (mostly engineers) from all over the world it's interesting how often people share about their kids killing themselves. Saw another one this morning. Made me think about my kids and their friends. And, it reminds me of a rant Stephan Molyneoux went on a few years ago, "....If we cared about America's kids would we run up a $31T debt? Would our public schools be run like little prisons?..." I never shook that rant from my mind, because it rings so true. We neglect our young people, at best. I do, with how much I work trying to support them. (Ironic). Many of my son's friends come from terrible homes - with one parent, or with violent drunk parents. Many, many kids don't have parents who can afford college these days. These kids, somewhat like my grandparents, will have to "dig it out of the dirt" (to quote Ben Hogan). I'm doing a big (screwed up) project on a psych hospital that is 50% adolescents. Breaks my heart to see those kids. What in the hell are we doing? Our priorities are (or have remained?) screwed up. I noticed in what I've read from Ayn that she didn't really seem to address children. She never had any, so I can understand. Having them changes everything - puts one in an entirely different paradigm. My wife and I have become a pillar for some of these kids we know - We're still married, not in trouble with the law, with a nice home.... One of these kids (a young man who's a paraplegic with a tough home life) was so happy to see my wife the other day that when he hugged her he started crying.
Once I hang up the engineering work I want to coach high school golf. Really make a difference in the lives of some young people...
Once I hang up the engineering work I want to coach high school golf. Really make a difference in the lives of some young people...
Objectivism as a philosophy is understated on some topics, children especially. More thought is needed.
There is a quote I cannot place, something about the merits of practice v. precepts -
It is possible to do the right thing without having the theory perfected.
When I was in school [back in ancient times...] bullying was when someone beat you up and took your lunch money. Name-calling was something you were supposed to ignore.
I'm sure most of you here know the old 'sticks and stones' rhyme, but that is foreign to today's kids. And I think they are suffering for it. They seem to lack a 'mental toughness'.
We were fortunate enough that my wife could be a stay-at-home mom to our children. Would that put me in 'violation' of the oath?
AS only mentions in passing that there are married couples and children in the Gulch, but not really how that relates to Objectivism. I suspect that AR not having children led to the lack of children in AS. None of the major characters have children, which is not really reflective of society as a whole.
1) Galt's brief reference to "wives and children . . . mutual trade . . . and a mutual payment," and
2) 2 paragraphs of Dagny, the baker's boys & the baker/mother/linesman's wife. She (as all the adults) has taken the oath herself, and says of her sons, "They're the profession I've chosen to practice . . . . I would not surrender them."
Also, not all parenting is biological. For example, Hank Rearden is for practical purposes father to The Wet Nurse/Non-Absolute/Tony.