By: D. A. Slinkard
Common sense is not very common, and I do believe having it should be considered a super power. Too often, people end up making mistakes in their life that are dumb mistakes. For the outsider, it is like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. There was a movie with the famous line, “I see dead people…they’re all around…they don’t even know their dead.” I would say the new famous line should be, “I see stupid people…they’re all around…they don’t even know their stupid.”
Yes! That is the society we live in today! With each passing article, I continue to be surprised at the amount of stupidity that encompasses our society as we seem to “level up” to the next level. When I was growing up, my parents did an exceptional job teaching me right from wrong, what to say and what not to say, and how to respect authority. They were not perfect in their parenting skills, but compared to the parenting of today, they were ahead of the curve.
I cannot tell you how thankful I am for my parents, especially when I look at the nonsense going on today in our own community. Who would have thought the shenanigans would have made it to Athens, Alabama? When I was growing up, if I would have gotten in trouble at school, an in-school suspension would have been the least of my worries, and probably would have seemed like paradise compared to the whooping I would get at home. I grew up during an age in which my parents believed the authority figure; whereas today, many parents trust their kids as opposed to trusting the authority.
We live in the information age and are able to see video clips of things happening in real time, with the likes of “live streaming” through social media. The problem comes in that these videos typically only show one side, which just happens to be the side that fails to show what led up to the event. We need to learn how to use root-cause analysis. One of the flaws in our society is that we often have a hard time realizing our failures and accepting responsibility for our own actions.
Speaking realistically, we need to learn how to own up to our mistakes and our actions. Instead, we have become a society that wants to blame our problems/mistakes/shortcomings/bad attitudes/downfalls on the other person, and this is simply a bad practice. If “A” would not have happened, “B” would not have occurred resulting in the outcome of “C”; but instead, we like to place blame in our society and point fingers. When you point fingers, just know you have three pointing right back at you.
I am a firm believer that the problems we face in our society would dissipate if we would just use the Bible as our final authority. Take for instance 1 Timothy 2:1-3 in my King James Bible reads, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” This is straight from God’s Word telling us that we should pray for our leaders and all that are in authority.
What would our society look like if we took the time to do this? We have become people that like to complain about authority as the spoiled children have now become adults and are quick to say, “That isn’t fair.” It amazes me that the ones demanding respect are the very people showing the least amount of it. If you want to change your stars, you need to change your way of thinking. We are a society in which everyone thinks they are owed something for nothing. Our ideology has morphed into something that is incomprehensible. If our children fail, we have parents that want to blame others instead of just saying, “Yes, this one is on me or this one is on my child.” We live in a society that likes to throw rocks while also living in glass houses. It really is time we try to do what is good and acceptable in the sight of God. Maybe once we humble ourselves, we will begin to see a little less stupidity. Remember, Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard is the manager of the Athens Staples store
