Opinion: School is in session
Where did summer go? The kids of Madera Unified School District are back in class, so be extra careful driving in school zones and the surrounding blocks, as kids don’t always look both ways before crossing. Parents are naturally apprehensive with all the violence and active shooters the summer has seen.
Misfits who want to be somebody and kill themselves with suicide by cop and take a bunch of innocents with them are wrong. What happened to these kids to think any of this is a good idea? As we post on Facebook, “SMH,” which means “Shaking My Head,” I’m not sure what the answer is.
Generation Y has grown up with cable television, Internet access, cell phones and all the rest. I read a joke on Facebook that said they are called Generation Y because they are constantly asking, “Why do I need to get a job? Why do I need a car when you drive me everywhere? Why should I move out of your basement where I get three hots and a cot? (Prison slang for meals and lodging while incarcerated).
Here is an idea that I think has merit. Reinstitute the draft and conscript all the young men and women of age 18 for a two-year mandatory government service. Not necessarily an army, but a giant workforce that really could make America great again.
The country’s infrastructure is falling apart, litter and debris line the roadways, the ocean is full of plastic that could and should be recycled.
After 18 weeks of boot camp, this awesome workforce could paint over all the graffiti in America, help rebuild cities blighted by Hurricane Katrina and all the rest! After two years, out of their parents’ house and given a taste of real life, real work and real responsibility, they will be better human beings. After two years of mandatory government-sponsored service, help with college or trade school can be provided. The USA would have the most mature and responsible nation of 20-year-olds on the planet.
I can’t help but think the reason these young men commit these acts of domestic terror can be boiled down to having way too much time on their hands. Work them hard and teach them a trade so they have an opportunity to become productive adults.
Make America Great Again isn’t just a saying it should be a mantra for all Americans.
As for the problems,we have been having with border security: The whole country should be behind the movement to make America safe again.
I saw a funny post on Facebook that said to take the $5 billion aid package to Mexico, and instead we use the money to buy Mexico, fix it up and flip it. I almost blew coffee out my nose the first time I read this.
Donald J. Trump is our POTUS. Get used to it because with his 2020 reelection, we have roughly six more years of his administration. When Barack Obama became president, the Republicans took it a lot better than the Democrats have accepted Trump.
The Democratic Party has no one but itself to blame because nobody in their right mind would cast their precious vote for what my Uncle Pete Kirk calls “lyin’ Hillary.”
I have always been a registered Democrat.
The last time I visited my family in Nashville, my uncle hugged me tight as I was leaving and said he hoped I wasn’t going home mad at him because of his political views. I hugged him back and said he was worth 10 of those idiots in Washington, D.C., and they could never make me do anything but to love him and Aunt Nada with every fiber of my being.
People have probably been debating politics since Adam and Eve debated whether or not to eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil. Discussing politics is like playing any other game. Each debater scores points against their opponents and after it is over, they go out and catch a drink together or it should be.
Many people scream that the president is a racist. They blame him for the rash of mass shootings because of his attitude about the division of the ethnic background of people.
We can’t even decide for sure what to call people of different skin colors than ourselves. In my childhood, the dark-colored kids were called Negroes and that other ugly “N,” word. Then the term Afro-American and Black became acceptable terms. Now I think we are back to using the term African-American. I think this is a misnomer as there are many white people on the continent of Africa, especially South Africa.
Racial slurs are never acceptable. Funny I thought being called, whitey, white paddy and my all-time favorite, Honke, never had the power to wound me.
I hope calling black people black isn’t too offensive. I don’t mean it to be, to hurt or to wound. Nobody has a say in what color they are born. This time I am a hybrid of Irish, Scottish, Cherokee and Apache, according to my late mother.
Next time, who knows? If I come back as an Australian or Canadian, I will have no control over the color of my skin. I wish I could live to see a society that is so diverse that we are all a blended color of beige or taupe and we can as Rodney King once said, “Just all get along?”
I wish my mother had lived to see the Internet. She and ancestory.com would have been the best buddies ever.
Our former mayor Robert Poythress had one of those DNA tests taken. He found out he was a mix of Swedish, Finnish and Danish. I said to him so it basically told you that you are a big ol’ white boy?
He agreed and we had a good laugh.
Long days and pleasant nights, have a great weekend.
• • •
Readers may contact Tami Jo Nix by emailing tamijonix@gmail.com or following @TamiJoNix on Twitter.
