I am invisible.

Leaving the restaurant this morning, I was walking out when a person with whom I made eye contact continued to try to walk through me without a word or a sound. He tried to walk through me as if I didn’t exist.

Leaving the car park at the local CVS, two cars nearly backed into me as I carefully proceeded through the lot toward the exit. They were backing out and on their cellphones. Neither driver noticed me. I am invisible even in my car.

Driving home from these errands verified my assumption. Northbound on 7th avenue, a pickup truck wanted the lane – space – I already occupied.

I gave way in all of these situations because, you see, I studied physics, where I learned that two objects could not occupy the same space simultaneously. It’s the law. Not that rules matter; we don’t view the law as we once did. It’s no longer absolute.

It all changed when we fabricated a process to interpret these laws exploiting the latitude loosely, and they allowed us to suit our narcissistic tendencies. You see, we didn’t like the implications as they applied to us as individuals, so we tried to change the law. When that failed, we sought ways to reinterpret them in our favor.

We invented lawyers.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but it is convenient in most situations. We rationalize this disregard and our illiteracy as a product of government indoctrination camps when it’s a fundamental parenting failure.

By the way, we also invented the blame game to shift – skirt – responsibility.

We don’t teach etiquette or manners. Instead, we allow our progeny to dictate the tone and tempo. They act as they please. Recall that children are little apes who imitate their role models – their parents, if you can call them parents, and more accurately, their programming.

Consider the inordinate amount of time these impressionable little apes spend at the Altar of Enlightenment (Video Screen). Is it any wonder they so instinctively replay their programming?

Maybe we should begin using this potent tool to teach our offspring something useful and of value, like civics, history, math, and, dare I mention – etiquette and ethics…

Are you curious about these parents?

Do you wonder what kind of people they are?

Just look at the children…

Do the kids speak in low tones, or are they always at full playground volume?

Are the children calm and quiet, or are they in full riot mode running and screaming wherever they are?

Are they courteous or rude?

Do they yell and argue with their guardians?

How they act in public is indicative of their home life.

Are they polite or rude little urchins?

Simply look at mom and dad.

They are an example for their heirs.

We’ve relinquished our responsibility for parenting to the Government Indoctrination Camps. Many call them public schools. They are Humanist Seminaries with mysterious curricula and social reengineering agendas.

Schools are the institution where instruction is given, specifically to people under college age, for training in general skills. Primary education should be broad, covering many vital subjects with a curriculum structured to provide informative and challenging cultivation of these essential subjects. It must be a safe place for the exchange of information and ideas. It is not a forum for sexual, social, or political indoctrination and programming.

The specificity of teaching becomes more directed as the student progress. Entry-level classes are intentionally general. The complexity should increase as the student’s aptitude is assessed and they progress through academic achievement not assumed or guaranteed.

Not everyone should be a doctor; many doctors would be better ditch-diggers.

Training should fit the intellectual capacity and capabilities of the students.

The sanctioned practice of teaching to the lowest common denominator – dumbing down the lessons so stupid kids can excel is a disservice to everyone.

Advancement through the levels is earned academically, not assured.

Parents must embrace their child’s intellectual acumen. The best judges of abilities are competent teachers. Parents’ desires for their children are essential but must be tempered by realistic assessments of their child’s abilities.

In October of 1979, Congress (the opposite of progress) created the Department of Education, combining several federal agencies into the odious behemoth we endure today.

Like most governmental agencies, it reflects the need for more and bigger governments to manage things best left to the states and their constituents. However, it must not discount the participation of the child’s parents or guardians. The Department of Education, mainly through the Teachers Unions, insists that the children belong to them, and any parent that interferes are “Domestic Terrorists.”

Talk about being seen and not heard!

Facturd – The United States Government Manual lists 96 independent executive units and 220 components of the executive departments. An even more inclusive listing comes from USA.gov, which lists 137 independent executive agencies and 268 units in the Cabinet. As of 2021, there are 18.28 million people employed at all levels of government – 2.1 million at the federal level. That’s a shit-load of mouths to feed!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

Parenting: the rearing of children occurs in an arrangement called a family consisting of a father, mother, and their progeny or charges functioning as a unit.

Rearing: The process of taking care of and raising children.

These words imply responsibility in raising, educating, and caring for children. This process is the sole obligation of the biological units that created or agreed to care for them as guardians.

An antiquated, trite saying is, “It takes a village to raise a child.” It may work in a tight-knit community but breaks down quickly in most modern urban environments.

This platitude is why we are in the bottom of the outhouse today. I suppose that in a perfect world, this idea of raising a child in a village works because there is a commonality of purpose and belief. However, in America, we all live as individuals, not as a community. Even religious beliefs that unify some are viewed as tribal. It’s our choice not to coalesce and remain individualistic.

To prove my point regarding the above statement, try correcting someone’s child or recommending that the ill-behaved ankle-biter requires corrections or specific guidance. I don’t want to know the results. I’ve asked parents to control their children, please. You’d think I shot the family dog.

Nothing is more annoying than the misery of a meal and conversation continually interrupted by screaming children.

Second on my list is listening to a speaker-phone conversation.

Lastly, is video game noise in any venue.

The responsibility for rearing children is only implied. The necessary skills are not innate or instinctive. They are usually poorly passed along – badly remembered – misinterpreted versions of familial encounters with some interesting inclusions or exclusions. We attempt to improve these errant rearing tactics but generally fail miserably.

As always, there are exceptions to the rule. Some parental units enhance their skills and elevate childrearing to a new level. May the Maker bless them with many more scions. And, may they teach those not so endowed the secrets of success.

KidStone Chewable Valium – just a suggestion.

A clergyman named John Mirk coined the phrase, “Children should be seen and not heard.”
It’s an appealing concept I wish was practiced in restaurants and most public places across the country.

Mirk’s idea doesn’t account for the necessary conversational interchange of ideas in rearing younglings.

How will they ever learn if they don’t know how to ask questions?

How will the parental units know about their wards without communication?

Who will teach these eager, inquisitive young minds how to ask a question or engage in conversations?

Certainly not the Federal Indoctrination Camps.

There is little doubt that we are failing on many levels regarding our children.

Is it us?

Now, back to the topic of invisibility.

When I consider this idea, my topic, my superpower, I recognize that most of America is so blessed.

I mean, we are all invisible.

Aren’t we?

Can you recall the last time anyone in the government asked your opinion? If they did ask, did they follow or incorporate your ideas?

Does the government recognize you and me as contributors and not just a source of revenue, inconvenience, or necessary evil?

Are you anything other than a ticket to their prosperity and a means to extended office tenure?

Are we nothing more than tools used to bolster and bankroll their self-serving projects?

Do we really have a voice?

Are you invisible?

Consider the trillions of dollars dumped on the economy in the past 19 months. How has this helped our country? Apparently, even some of the cabinet secretaries are blessed with invisibility because our leader doesn’t acknowledge them either.

It is self-evident that spending our way to prosperity, and programming our children, is not working. Inflation topped 9.1% for the first time in decades. As a result, we are in a recession. We are seeing everything we hold dear – the pillars of America pulled down before our eyes.

This is what we learn at the feet of our masters.

This is what we teach those fertile young minds.

This is our legacy.

Boy, have we ever screwed the pooch!

July 18, 2022

~ The Author ~
Charles R. Dickens was born in 1951, is a veteran of the Vietnam war, for which he volunteered, and the great-great grandson of the noted author, whose name he shares.

He is a fiercely proud American, who still believes this is the greatest country on the planet, with which we’ve lost control and certainly our direction. He grew up in moderate financial surrounding; were not rich by any stretch, but didn’t go hungry – his incredibly hard working father saw to that. As most from that era, he learned about life from his father, whose story would take too long to tell, other than to say that, he is also a fiercely proud American; a WWII and Korean war, veteran Marine.

Charlie was educated in the parochial system which, demanded that you actually learn something, and have capability to retain it before you advance. He attended several universities in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, and chased the goose further to a master’s, and has retained some very definite ideas about education in this country.

In addition, Charlie is a retired blues guitar and vocalist – a musician. This was his therapy career. Nothing brings him as much joy as playing music, and he wishes that he could make a living at it… but alas… life goes on!

That’s Charlie… a proud, opinionated, and passionate American.