Back before we knew any better

Kids these days

Matthew “Mista” Ruddy

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The trouble with kids today is that they don’t respect their elders. We know better from our lived experience and, when we tell them how things ought to be, they should listen.

When we spend trillions on weapons designed to kill people, and we use those weapons as bargaining chips in the game of geopolitics, they should definitely believe us when we say that abortion is wrong because it’s murder. When we say that we simply cannot afford universal health care, it’s because medical benefits are also a bargaining chip designed to discourage people from leaving a job. The CEO of any particular insurance company deserves an astronomical salary based solely on being clever enough to strong-arm the government into keeping things that way.

We need children to understand that “cancel culture” is bad so banning books is the best way to help them figure that out. Those books would only be a distraction from filling in multiple-choice answers on a standardized test sheet which funnels billions of dollars into an industry that also strong-arms the government for the sake of astronomical profits. We want children to become problem solvers and critical thinkers but only if they choose from the tray of pre-selected academic hoeur d’oeuvres. We should insist that “freedom of speech” should only be pronounced in English, while we ask them to ignore that it is a language comprised largely of Greek and Latin roots.

We can only hope that they will one day understand that all of this confusion about gender, sexuality, and identity is merely a passing fad. If they did a little bit of research, perhaps by reading the books that are being banned for talking about things we’re hoping to ignore or erase, they would certainly find that there is no evidence in any country or culture ever that allowed for anything besides binary partnership or identity; no wigs, stockings, makeup, ornate clothes, or gatherings of consenting behavior. They might also learn that no one has ever been persecuted, beaten, or murdered by men who are terrified of their own insecurities and impulses.

When these kids see us contradicting ourselves by claiming everyone should have the right to vote while also creating obstacles to stop people we don’t like from voting, they should really believe that democracy is complicated. Sometimes we have to stop the wrong people from voting because they don’t know any better and we have to protect them from themselves.

That should hopefully explain the Indian boarding schools where the motto was “kill the Indian to save the child.” It was absolutely necessary to ban them from speaking their native languages and force them to dress more like normal people so they could better understand “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

There are countless examples, too many to list in one sitting. But kids, we really need you to listen and believe that when you get older, you’ll understand that all of the exploitation, greed, violence and willful ignorance you see us perpetuating is just the way things have to be. Hitting is wrong but bombing is fine. We’re too busy protecting you from books and practicing active shooter drills to talk about reasonable measures to curb gun violence. Don’t you dare think about breaking the window of a store or kneeling during a song because the truly patriotic thing to do is smear feces on the walls of a government building and beat a police officer with a lead pipe.

Trust us grown-ups when we tell you that being a real American in these “United States” means dehumanizing someone else because they are different.

We get it. We really do. We were teenagers once. We used to be really angry about many of the things that grown-ups did. We were taught that lying, cheating, stealing, and hurting each other were wrong. We were taught that by people who were (and still are) lying, cheating, stealing, and hurting each other.

But trust us, we know what we’re doing.*

*Disclaimer: We don’t. We deserve every ounce of your contempt and criticism for the inexcusable state of this planet. Next time you’re told to clean up your room, ask a parent what they’ve done to help clean up the messes we’ve made. There are plenty of good people trying but there are also awful people who are sick with greed, corruption, and bigotry. Read whatever you want, question authority, fight for the right to define yourselves, love whoever you want, do not accept that the hurricane of malice you see is justifiable, and, most of all, take the time to listen and learn from each other. We are all messy vessels who deserve some kindness and care. Lean in and stay connected to people of any age and any background who believe in you and water the garden of your heart.*

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Matthew “Mista” Ruddy

Born in the PNW, raised in Pittsburgh, grew up a little more as a music teacher on the LES of NYC. PDX-based. Educator, Musician, Conscious Contributor.