I said so

 I saw an article about a 7 year old boy having his MAGA hat taken and he was roughed up a bit. Not at all surprising seeing as he was outside of a place where there was the DNC convention. I didn't really read the whole article and so I am lacking in those details. But the thing was I was reading the comments below the article deriding those that attacked the boy. Well I certainly agree with that, regardless of party affiliation actions like that are despicable. There is never a reason to physically attack anyone in that fashion. But this is turning out to be a particularly vicious election cycle. Truth is, a particularly vicious time in America! To say emotions are heightened is an understatement. It has the earmarks of desperation. I'll just leave that remark there and you can assign ownership to whomever you choose.

 The thing that troubles me, and the thing I commented on was the parents. It is my thinking that that boys parents were being irresponsible allowing him to wear that hat, in that situation. Given the current political climate and knowing what others are doing, I can't see that any other way. For me, that falls under the general category,  parenting. Parents have a responsibility to watch out for their children. It seems obvious enough to me. Yes, yes, that child has every right to wear that hat, he has every right to demonstrate, but he should also be parented! That is to say, told what a foolish thing it would be to expose yourself to that crowd. How many times did you hear, "I suppose if all the other kids were doing that, you would too?" This is one of those situations. The parents shouldn't have allowed that. Yes, I know the modern parent doesn't say no, but they should. The responsibility is to be a parent first, a friend second. In this case, in my opinion, they were being neither. 

 I think this incident speaks to a bigger problem today. There are far too many parents exposing their children to adult things far too soon. We've all read about what the curriculum in our schools contains. In my opinion there is no reason to start teaching sex education in first grade! Setting that aside I feel there is a wide variety of subjects that are addressed far too early. In short we are not allowing our children to be children and do childish things. The end result is a bunch of "adults" that act like children. Don't think so? What is the big complaint you hear today? I mean the one most frequently vocalized? It isn't fair! That's what I hear all the time, it isn't fair. Anytime someone else has something they want, it isn't fair. We have progressed to physical attributes not being fair! Yeah, hear that all the time. And now we use what is being perceived as a liability to gain an advantage well, because, it isn't fair. 

 Another thing I'm seeing a lot of is this notion of respect. You disrespected me, you're not giving me the respect I should have. I deserve respect. What these adults have not learned is that respect is earned ,not given away. It's sorta like those possessions you want, or that promotion you want, you have to earn them. The problem being too many received trophies for just participating! You have to do more than show up! And when they don't get that what is the problem? It isn't fair. Whenever anything doesn't go the way they want it to go, it isn't fair. 

 I guess I wandered off just a bit, but I am trying to understand why any parent would allow their child to be in the position that boy was. As parents we should trying to protect our children from harm, not attempting to use them as a shield. Why interject a child in to that situation. We should be teaching our children to respect others. By teaching that child it is okay to wear that hat, or any other logo or symbol for that matter, to a gathering where you know it will be met with derision and possible violence is irresponsible. A responsible parent would have explained all that to the child, and yes. 7 is still just a child, and not allowed that. It falls under the category of common sense. Discretion is the better part of valor. 

 You know in only what can be considered an irony of life, parents often use the phrase, "because I told you so." They employ that when it would just take too long to explain. Like this hat incident. But I want to wear my MAGA hat because it's cool, all my friends are wearing theirs, and I have a right to wear it! You're not!  But why, it's not fair! Because I told you so, that's why. End of discussion. Lesson learned? Sometimes things aren't fair. And sometimes, that's a good thing.