Roy Exum
It isn’t that 50 people were killed in an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning. And it isn’t that 50 who went to a place that caters to gay people were killed by yet another rabid gunman. And it isn’t that the alleged gunman had a name that sounded Islamic. What it truly is that 50 of us – we, the American people -- were gunned down in the most horrific display of a domestic attack in our history.
As I sit on my porch, rocking in my chair, I don’t know what I can possibly do other than beseech my God to take control of a country where hate is the new norm, where political rallies are now violent protests, where half of us deeply resent those on the dole, and where we are increasingly losing sight of our proper respect for others and our own dignity as well. Fifty Americans are dead and not a one deserved to die. But, if the truth be told, it hardly takes a genius to know that this was coming.
In the past seven years Barack Obama has been our president – elected, mind you, by a majority of us – I have been disappointed that we have shifted our focus from where it belongs to where it doesn’t. We have made choosing a restroom more important than repairing our streets. We have shrunk our military might to pre-World War II levels; my God, the Marine Corps doesn’t have the fuel to fly our planes.
We have gleefully thrust the GLBT crowd – less than five percent of our population – upon the 95 percent of us who just want to get along, be respectful, but certainly not penalized nor made guilty of anything. This weekend we had “Gay Pride” marches – which I think are marvelous – but when they turn into raucous public display of vulgarity that affront men, women and children alike, our disdain grows faster than a kudzu vine.
No, improper behavior meant to roil others’ senses is hardly humorous. Sadly, our alternative community has stood back and allowed the behavior of 10 percent of the marchers to color our view of the entire rainbow crowd, yet, in an unfathomable way, the GLBT community refuses to take responsibility and curb it. That is not right, and that the wrong is left undisturbed fuels society’s hottest fires.
So let’s connect the dots in a most basic way. Those of us in the second half of our lives were raised far differently than those who have followed us for the past 50 years. Think about this: In just half a century we have replaced teaching the Bible and its standards in our elementary schools with – what? --bullying. That’s right; bullying, hazing, beat-downs, hateful mockery and defilement of others that is rampant in every corner of America.
So it is easy for me to connect the dots. Sure, this is just my opinion, but I watch it start in grammar school, get stronger as it goes unleashed through our high schools and we wonder why rapes on college campuses, racial hatred, and this very horrible scourge of mass shooting occur. Black-on-black shootings make me literally weep, but the black community, again in an unfathomable way, refuses to take responsibility in a display that is equally galling. Good and decent African Americans live in constant fear in our city but steadfastly refuse to help the police in any way. That’s inexcusable and their sons are dying.
My goodness, earlier this year grammar school kids were actually arrested in Murfreesboro by sheriff’s deputies after picking on weaker kids. I am convinced that the lessons taught in the Bible are a huge part of my generation’s bedrock. We were taught, in school, to be kind and considerate and compassionate and to love one another. I am convinced that today there is a huge void in the lives of our children who desperately need the values the Bible teaches.
Take Christianity out of the equation (which is where the argument always starts). The stories in the Bible cover just about everything that is going to happen to somebody. And they illustrate how to recover from despair and how to be a better person. They teach love, healing, understanding, grace and “what you do to the least of them you do unto Me.” The Beatitudes, the 10 Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount … this is what we were taught growing up. Better yet, we still believe it.
And this is what we have allowed to be taken away in the basic education of every child. We were taught that you had to have faith to have hope. Without faith, a child has nothing to believe in. Is it any wonder our kids aren’t nearly as motivated, eager, and confident like my generation was?
Today the morons among us have shouted Christian principles to an all-time low. But as Memorial Day just passed, the stories of faith that accompanied our boys into Guadalcanal, Sicily, Burma and the Battle of the Bulge were all they had to stay sane. Read the testimonies from the Bataan Death March and you’ll find a direct correlation to a Biblical education.
We have let raging idiots eliminate the basics and the fundamentals of life from the educational sphere. Any losing football team, failing company, bankrupt municipality or floundering circus knows you immediately embrace the basics and the fundamentals to right the ship. Kids at Orchard Knob have no earthly idea how to regain their compass because we listen more to the strange minority voices instead of the strong and solid majority.
My crowd was forced to endure Viet Nam. My brother went on one patrol with 40 Marines and was one of two who made it back. He dragged the body of his best friend over three miles before he had to leave him. He would never discuss what happened in that hell and he died far too young with a savage cancer believed to have been caused by repeated dousing of Agent Orange in the jungle. I can guarantee you the only way he got through it was with 13 years of perfect attendance in Sunday School.
My point, as I watch the news reports out of Orlando, is that the reason we are horribly off track as a nation and – oh my – have such a miserably bent spirit, is because we have allowed thieves, under the mask of liberals, Muslims, gays or any other minority you choose to steal our basics, the fundamentals, the values and the “total education” us older folks got.
Common Core, TNReady … standardized testing implies that each of our children is standardized. My glory, the state Department of Education is today a well-publicized joke. When we were just old enough to walk, Mother would begin each of us with McGuffey Readers. There was a stack of them and you’d work your way through. My grandfather learned well over a century ago with McGuffey Readers and, as a five-year-old kindergartener in St. Elmo, he read Luke 2 to the entire school.
By the time I was five – though I hardly remember it – I was a good reader. I know, in my heart of hearts, kids may be born in poverty but not a one is born stupid. Our inner-city schools are plagued with poor performance so, yes, I love the idea of year-round school, Saturday school, anything to develop young minds but what is unforgivable we are doomed for failure without values or principles. That is exactly what has been done in America.
You think I’m crazy? Well, we have tried everything else under the sun and it sure hasn’t worked. My goodness, when we let bullying replace the Bible, it is embarrassing to sit in your rocking chair crying out to a merciful God to heal and bless our country. Our nation was founded on Christian principles. Those who signed the Constitution were devout Christians and those who have followed throughout the many years are the same. We have fought, died and lived to make sure even our smallest money – each penny – carries our creed: “In God We Trust.”
So let’s do this – let’s put Bible in the schools on the ballot. In Hamilton County let’s let the majority decide because what the minority has done to us – and yes they have -- is abysmal. You want to put the Koran on the ballot, too? Go ahead. With the hate and rancor that has been allowed to fester, the zany upsurge of the Muslim nation, under President Obama alone, is destined for doom, you just wait and see.
Let the parents of our school district vote. Let’s follow the will of the majority of the people. If some dislike what the majority of us decides, take a hike. Move to New Hampshire or California. I’m saying this will work and I’m saying any kid who grows up in an environment with principles and values is far less likely to kill another human being. By golly, this will work.
royexum@aol.com