Just the other day, I was listening to George Carlin's "It's bad for ya" to laugh on the way to Miami to visit my Step mom's family for Thanksgiving. I may recall we were at the airport when I reached his famous segment, "Child Worshiping". I must say, while I agree and diverge with many of Carlin's ideas, I did not give to much thought into this one, after all, it could've been one of his silly moments when he hilariously approaches a non-important subject, yet it did not occur to me, after meeting with my little cousin, that this was, perchance, one of the most important issued Carlin ever addressed, sparking further inspiration for me to write this.
You can watch the segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFN3CtcYs0Q.
My twelve year old cousin, or perhaps, my step mom's niece, is one of those persons who has talent waiting to develop, little by little, in order for her to eventually make a pretty good living out of it. She dances magnificently and has great load of energy and stamina difficult to find in dancers nowadays. I also met with her eleven year old friend, who, I shall confess, sucks at the dance floor. Anyway, I noted a trophy displaying proudly in her studio that read "Renaissance Middle School Dance Contest". Fair enough, it did not seem like a big deal until I set my eyes on the same trophy, this time at my cousin friend's living room. So, did they both get the same merit? That kind of sucks; If one has a talent that makes him or her different from the norm, I personally think that person ought to be awarded independently from the rest of the losers. Fine by me if you want to give the other kids trophies reading "participant", but this was not the case. It was not a group merit, they all danced separately and where awarded the same freaking trophy. Much to my dismay, my cousin's conclusion was that she and her friend, along the other fourteen kiddos, demonstrated the same agility. Geez!
Comparing and contrasting to this event, the eleven year old also showed an intellectual and comprehensive level notoriously higher than that of my cousin's; I was not only astonished by the fact she owned a copy of "The Feast of the Goat", but also because she took the opportunity to express her own opinion, in which she concluded that "calling Balaguer the 'puppet president' was merely necessary since, from an historical point of view, the reader already knows he was supposed to gain a great deal of power". Outstanding, ain't it? I was barely surprised she was on the Honor Roll; however, I was utterly perplexed as I observed my cousin's Honor Roll diploma hanging in her bedroom. Seriously? We're taking about a kid who thinks Guadalajara is a kind of food! Something is screwed up in here. The school was nice and honest enough, though, to include her academic range in the document: 70% to 80%? That shalt be honored!
While we go back to the good ol' self esteem movement taking responsibility for this atrocity, we must also take into account that this, by all means, is not psychologically healthy for either girl. Just as I watched my cousin saying everybody had the same abilities, I was hearing the words reminiscent of a Politically Correct interest group. A talent is supposed to give you a feeling of individuality, for you can do something most people can't. Meriting children with no talent takes the imagination and inspiration away for those who do bear one; they're going to say, "well, if everybody's good at it, what's the point?". Furthermore triggering early that angst that ought to be found in adolescence, for their quest for finding what makes them different is going to result futile. This might not be the case for my cousin's friend since she might also develop critical thinking skills that will lead her to understand how ridiculous the idea of trying to improve every child's self esteem through undeserved praise is, but what about those toddlers who are still living in a "Disneyland state-o-mind" where everything is so shallow, narrow, innocuous, and naive?
No, if the kid isn't good at something, let him come to be by himself! In contrast to those who did not succeed because they could not figure a way to "get out of the system", picture, as Carlin said, those who find out they suck at life when they are in their early 20's. All problems and dilemmas in society can be traced back to the issue people don't want to be realistic.
I took the advantage to create a list of possible consequences for the majority of these kids if this self-esteem lingo goes on:
*Those who have a talent might: Find a way to make their talent known to the masses (To my way of thinking, I find this unlikely since now big entertainment tycoons randomly choose the prettiest face among the bunch and, basically, make a fake talent out of it) - Grow as normal adults, go to a regular university, and live carrying the weight they could've been bigger than Jesus. - Develop a Napoleonic complex where they, somehow, feel inferior to those who show no skill at all and are still rewarded for this (This can actually be developed in the matter of loathe and jealousy, or what I like to call the "Ted Bundy" Complex)
*Those who bear no skill might: Never find their real talent. - Live with an arrogant ego their entire lives. - Grow as accomplished human beings, but only if this act of not recognizing true talents extends to adults, too. - Eventually grow as politically correct activists who think "every child is special" ,but paradoxically "the same".
I think that, for the sake of the argument, I might as well add a few facts:
*A pole dancer has unique dancing moves
*Fred Phelps is an avid public speaker
*The Pope is a great at modifying statements and adorning the truth
*Fidel Castro was (probably is) a hell of a leader
*Lee Harvey Oswald was a great sniper
*Elvis was not a black guy
*George W.Bush was not born to be president
*Dane Cook is not funny
*Not every Latin American celebrity is a stand up comedian
*George Carlin? Not the best Irish. Or Catholic
Well, the latter is that we shouldn't be wearing the same clothes, or at least, not during the summer.
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