Aunt Nasty

Warning: Some readers may find her opinions abrasive, disturbing, or even offensive.

Most dedicated gardeners feel that weeding and pruning are a necessary part of the well-kept garden.

As a psychologist, I can identify with a gardener asked to restore a once-beautiful garden which has been invaded by the "weeds" of trauma, emotional abuse or misuse, and then smothered by the jungle-like "overgrowth" of inappropriate emotional responses.

During the counseling process, the client is encouraged to identify which of this emotional foliage needs only "weeding," and which needs "pruning" to facilitate helpful, beneficial growth.

Unfortunately, just as a doctor doesn't have much contact with patients when they are WELL, so a psychologist is seldom fortunate enough to get to know all the well-adjusted, healthy-minded GOOD teens and young adults out there. Oh yes, there are a whole bunch of wonderful kids on the planet, it's just that I just get stuck with the misfits and maladjusted monsters; and these are the ones who definitely warp my woollies!

And my, oh my, is there ever a lot of pruning needed in some of these younger mind-gardens! What with all the unsupervised crap they get to watch on TV, not to mention the extreme crap of some of the video games... well, you probably already know what I'm talking about. Y'know, I have to say I blame over-permissive parents. And then these same parents, who shell out big bucks for the programs their little darlings cannot live without, ask in their naive bewilderment "where is all the violence coming from?" and "why don't children go outside and play anymore?"

The violence is coming from the visual and auditory input of the "must-have" games; which, when the little darlings do "go outside to play" often end up in attacks on one another. "Swarming" of some poor nerd who has the misguided concept that school is the place for academic achievement, is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence. Have you also noticed the increase in drive-by shootings, road-rage violence and street-racing crashes?

And why would these warped little darlings think there's anything wrong with attacking another human being? It's perfectly acceptable, even desirable, in all those specifically poisonous "games" they sit around playing. About the only good thing I can find to say about "Slaystations," "Intender Game Squares" and "YZ Boxes" is that they teach the children good hand-eye co-ordination. This is fine, if you don't think ruining their minds during the process is a problem. I must add here, not all video games are traumatic and violence-encouraging, but you are quite aware of the specific "nasties" of which I speak ~ the ones which promote ambushing of innocents, stealing, torture, mutilation and killing ~ and some of them are even worse! It seems to me some parents don't care what their kids watch. Betcha they'd be horrified if they knew THEY are actually condoning and facilitating the filling of their kid's minds with this garbage!

So what kind of people are they raising here? You can see clearly the pattern of "evolution" in just the last two generations sliding steadily downhill. From the slim, trim, healthy, fit, articulate, respectful, polite individuals, the children of parents who cared enough to monitor their mental input; to the current crop of myopic, overweight, rude, obnoxious, illiterate couch-potatoes littering living-rooms, or lounging on street corners in the wee hours, has been only a very short step.

In my opinion, a step directly linked with the "evolution" of television and the personal computer, when used indiscriminately and without appropriate parental supervision. Unless you are a parent capable of home-schooling, or can afford to send the children to a Private School where respect, courtesy, and academic achievement rate high on the curriculum; your children are exposed to "The Public School System." Serious pruning needed here!

And may God help the schoolteachers! It seems some kids think they have the right to mouth off and swear at one another and their instructors. And, if the poor frustrated teacher dares to attempt to demand even a modicum of respect from these students; they can practically be hauled into court for abuse. No wonder we are suffering a severe shortage in the number of dedicated educators out there. Schools have become, for the most part, daily fashion-parades, with bullying cadres sculpting the student body into the "haves" and the "have-nots."

Students go on strike because tuition fees are on the rise; tuition fees are on the rise because we have to pay an arm and a leg to get a teacher to put up with all this guff on a daily basis...some radical pruning is definitely in order!

It gets even worse...In the home, any parent working hard to raise a polite, respectful, academically-inclined child could expect a surprise visit from the Ministry of Kiddies and Dysfunctional Families. Seems if the brat has a hissy-fit they can complain on a 1-800 hotline they are being abused by being made to do their homework, or dishes, or clean their rooms, or whatever fabrication they might come up with! Oh, prune it, please!

I thank God there are still some people left out there who are willing and able to educate their children properly, and are raising some really decent kids, despite peer pressure, and even in the face of the declining morality evident in the masses.

These are the people who may yet save our Earth, our own Garden.

By Nasturtium Blackwitt