I’m hoping that young children watching the performance unfolding on the world stage each day are not learning these lessons:
- Bullying pays
- Arrogance works
- Principles are pliable
- Friends don’t matter
- The earth’s resources will last forever
- Loyalty only goes one way
- Contempt trumps collaboration
- Control, don’t free
- Take, don’t give
- Tell, don’t ask
- Sell, don’t consult
- Quit, don’t join
- Pretend, don’t prepare
- Deny, don’t own
- Close down, don’t open up
- Double down, don’t listen; demonize, don’t humanize
- Possess, protect, don’t involve and invest
- Rush to judgement and recklessly execute; no need for respect and restraint
- Flattery gets you ahead
- History means nothing – it can be erased if inconvenient or uncomfortable
- Values are just words
- Fear and blame are the best political weapons
- Believe everything you think
- Entertainment by fools is more deserving of attention than education by experts
- Trust is easily built
- Laws only apply to others
- Allies are people who submit
- Dominance is the goal in relationships
- Conversation means agreement with your opinion
- Lies get more attention than truth; histrionic hyperbole beats honest history
- Cruelty is better than kindness
- Differences are not welcome; the marginalized get what they deserve
- Rights are wrong
- Money is better than meaning
- Power always prevails
- Restraint is an old-fashioned notion
- Creed is more important than compassion; certainty more important than curiosity
- Appeasement satisfies tyrants
- Revenge beats reason as the best way to get even
- Confrontation is always necessary and completely sufficient to achieve change
- Everyone is out to get you so get them first
- Sue anybody for any reason you can dream up
- Inclusion is woke
- Empathy is weak
- Bigger is better
- Women are disposable
- Children are exploitable
Are these really the lessons we want our children to learn? Is the American “dream” sustainable if these are the foundations of our culture? When these lessons are normalized and institutionalized, the end results are Renee Good and Alex Pretti among many more lives past and future.
I’m hoping we will start putting kids at the top of our agendas and start acting in more purposeful, principled, and peaceful ways. And I’m hoping that 28 doesn’t lead to lesson 48. Or, even better, that the 47th ends with the 25th. May it be so.
