Yesterday Wildchild and her Brownie troop celebrated Thinking Day, with the rest of the Girl Scout troops in our town. Thinking Day is an event when Girl Scouts learn about another countries, as there are Girl Scouts, or Guides, all around the world. Each troop had a table featuring posters and so forth about their country. However, one older troop had a "Rights of Children Around the World" table that made me feel sick inside. Now, I'm not against children having food and shelter and clean drinking water and all that. It's just the phrasing, as in this country a "right" has started to mean "something someone else pays for." Like how many in this country say that everyone has a "right" to healthcare and so we should start a government bureaucracy so everyone can get it for "free." I was also disturbed by the sign that said that the United Nations as central for dealing with problems of humanity. I, on the other hand, see the UN as a corrupt and bloated agency where the top officials take kickbacks and paybacks and whatever else they can skim off, UN soldiers can be rapists of women and children, and they are generally uneffective and overfunded. I also wondered about a sign that said children have a right to love. This reminds me too much of the pro-abortion mantra that every child should be wanted. Like if you don't think you are going to "love" a child, you'd better get rid of it. Sigh. It just seemed to be that this display was long on feel-goodism and short on anything real. One sign even said, "Think of the children." Isn't that what every slimy politician says when they want to take more of our money?
Also, this Girl Scout event took place at the local public school, and I couldn't turn around without seeing a sign about honesty or taking responsibility or conflict resolution. Nothing promoted was bad in and of itself, but it started feeling barf-worthy when it was everywhere in sight. I felt so alone, so lost in a sea of "feelings" and political correctness and mantras. Like there was no one out there who thought like me.
ETA: Oh, and since Senator Obama is the co-sponsor of a Senate bill to spend at least $845 billion over the next five years to fight *global* poverty, I'm a little worried about a laundry list of things that children around the world have a "right" to have.
6 comments:
Yeah, I hear ya on the Thinking Day crap. Friends of mine have that patch, for GS, and it reminded me of the same BS.
I've come to grips with the fact that most people haven't a clue, and do indeed want a nanny to make all decisions for them. And they love paying taxes through the nose.
I've thrown my hands up, there is no way to explain or educate people who buy into that.
"barf-worthy" LOL! I love the language! And you found the perfect place to use such an appropriate descriptor.
The Episcopal Church and some ELCA churches have actually adopted the UN's Millennial Development Goals as part of their observances of Lent this year.
Apply duct tape and look:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn/
http://www.er-d.org/mdg.htm
And as much as I dislike Hillary Clinton, the prospect of Obama as president *cough*cough* scares the living bat feces out of me.
I think like you, Barb. Our Brownie troop fell apart last year (in an emergency, the leader used cookie funds to pay for her dog's vet bills when it was hit by a car) and we never got back into it because of that political "world agenda" feel.
"Thinking Day"?!?!? They have a patch for that?!?!?!?
You've gotta be kidding me.
I'm right there with ya. All the touchy-feely-good-vibes-emotion-over-substance makes me wanna hurl.
The UN? Don't even get me started.
"Thinking Day" sounds like newspeak for "indoctrination day".
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