We are now a nation of ignorance and fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Nation Lost

Ignorance. (Lat. in, not, and gnarus, knowing) We are living in a time where information abounds and the possibility for knowledge seems endless. However, as good this may seem, we are nothing more than a nation of ignorance and fear.

We have become citizens that not only fear our government but our neighbors. We distrust our friends, our doctors and our educators. We fear not only for ourselves but for our children.

America's changing face seemed promising in the sixties, we stressed civil rights, freedom of speech and developed laws which seemingly were to protect the idea of the "American Dream". We believed we were making great strides to protect our children, to insure their rights and freedoms. We appeared to be a nation with its finger on the pulse of justice, fair trade and civil liberty and freedom for all.

Now we are a nation that wonders what in the hell happened? We have policies and agencies that do not live up to their own expectations and least of all, ours.

We have incorporated elements into these policies which go against the very grain of what our nation was supposed to stand for; freedom of speech, religion and the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

I wonder how many are able to say they are happy with this system of things? How many people have sold their soul, their beliefs and their moral understanding to this system in order to justify the unjustifiable?  

How secure have we become? Is it too late to speak up for what we believe in or have we forfeited the right to speak by compliance?

It used to be that we didn't mimic the phrase "family first" we believed family came first. We trusted our neighbors and our friends were treasured, our home's heart was the dining room table. This is where we made decisions for everything from education to providing care for our loved ones. This is where we shared our ideas of right and wrong, our faith in God (those of us who believe in  higher conscience) and our dreams, hopes and accomplishments. This is where we solved our problems, disciplined our children and nurtured our wounds.

Over the past twenty years, things have changed. Our children are no longer allowed to be our children they have become the implements of our educational system. Our children can no longer be safe on our streets or even in their neighborhoods and they can no longer exert their energy in natural ways.

Our schools are their "parents" and have taken up policies which prevent our children from expressing themselves in any "uncommon" physical way. Our children are condemned for simple actions such as, running pencils down a row of lockers, (as natural as Tom Sawyer) for the delightful sounds.

Who's winning, who's losing, and why? We are alarmed and worry if/when our child becomes a repeated offender of simple actions like; tapping pencils on his or her desk, drumming fingers or tapping feet to a song in their head.

Now children with those "unruly behaviors" are diagnosed by our schools as attention deficit and because we want the best for our children we comply with the diagnosis and give them the proper drugs to enable them to be "normal".

We seem to be in a no win situation, our families lose, most importantly our children lose and we become more and more weary of standing up and saying "enough is enough".

Who is left to say, "Let the children play." ?

Deborah Russell © 2004