[TheForge] Shortcut Sword? YAK

Wed Nov 5 07:26:06 2003

In my experience, it seems more time away from the box makes it easier to
stay away from, not the other way around.  People raised as couch potatoes
don't know what they are missing, so they don't value it at all.

Ed

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Donahoe" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 6:06 AM
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Shortcut Sword?

> ol' Demon Buddha writ; I will not allow a television in my house.
>
>
> Seems to me that TV is simply another tool.  Reminds me of a fellow I knew
> that refused to use socket tools because they were for sissies, hu?
Better
> to teach critical thinking and judicious use of the tool.  As I recall,
the
> kids at college away from home for the first time that got the most puking
> drunk were from the prohibition homes, without any background, exposure or
> experience in responsible alcohol use.  Forbidden fruit and all that.
>
> Kevin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Demon Buddha
> Sent: Tuesday, 04 November, 2003 7:30 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Shortcut Sword?
>
>
> On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 19:03:30 EST, <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I'm just a lurker on the list, hoping to get started in blacksmithing
> > some day soon.  But this comment is so right on the mark that I had to
> > add my two cents.  Yes, our society in general encourages young and old
> > alike to become helpless and rely on someone else...anyone else!  We've
> > set aside important skills and have turned our collective back on the
> > value of becoming well-rounded individuals.
>
> True.  And what I have found most interesting is the fact that
> for the past thirty years that I have been watching, the various
> "experts" and authorities have been most actively encouraging
> people NOT to develop physical skills that hold strong
> applicability.  What is encouraged are physical skills that hold
> virtually no potential for significant change to the status quo.
> Skills in break dancing will almost certainly never exert a
> significant influence over large bodies of people for the better.
> Nor will those for playing football.  I think perhaps my point
> is clear, no?
>
> Knowing how to raise and slaughter your own animals, grow your
> own food, build your own house from soup to nuts, how to run a
> business effectively, etc and so on, are not openly encouraged.
> THey are not repressed, mind you, but definitely not encouraged
> in the larger media culture.  People with such skills either
> are ignored or regarded as eccentrics that are not to be taken
> seriously (the tacit snickering is applied to them, as if to say "look at
> Nature Boy... how unhip, how unsophisticated").
>
> I look at kids and see, by and large, young beings that are so
> utterly lost that it is amazing they can find their way from the
> living room to the toilet without assistance.  They want everything
> but don't have the patience or the drive to do what it takes to
> develop the necessary capabilities to get what they want.  They
> try something new and when after an hour they find they are not
> yet mastering it, they toss it aside and go on to the next twenty
> minute fantasy.  It's horrible to observe and what's worse is the
> thought that when they become adults they will be so easily lead
> by their noses, this way or that.  It's truly sad.
>
> > I refuse to let this happen to my two sons.
>
> Suggestion: send family away to some fun thing.  Go into living
> room with 12 ga, loaded with 000 buckshot and put an end to your
> televisions.  I think TV is one of the single most damaging
> influences on kids today.  It's absolutely horrible.  If I ever
> have children of my own, I will not allow a television in my house.
>
> > I don't want them to grow up to be helpless, incapable, and pliable.  I
> > want them to be strong, decisive, and self-reliant.
>
> Just know that you are dooming them to a life of utter hardship
> because they will not fit in.  I admire your ideal, and in fact
> would almost certainly do the same with any children of mine,
> but I recognize just how awful their lives stand to be unless they
> are able to cloister themselves away from the mainstream.  It is
> still possible, but it gets harder and harder with every passing
> year.  I do not envy the generations now coming up.  In my opinion
> their lives will be very close to not worth living.  I liken their
> prospects for free and good living to those of a Purdue oven stuffer
> roaster.  From hatch to butcher's knife, they live miserable,
> narrow, squalidly guided and corralled lives with no purpose other
> than to serve some larger entity the existence of which they have
> not so much as a dim awareness of.
>
> > I make every effort to teach them to be responsible for themselves and
> > their actions, to be able to care for themselves and to understand that
> > they should care for others, and to see the value and accomplishment in
> > doing things with their own hands and minds.  We engage in lots of
> > interesting hobbies (hoping to add blacksmithing and casting soon!) and
> > they've become reasonably capable in many areas from cooking and basic
> > auto care to woodworking and playing a variety of musical instruments.
> > They're both A/B students, Cub Scouts, play on sports teams (soccer
> > season just ended...basketball's next), and are respectful young men.
> > I'm very proud of them, and I'm certainly not interested in relieving
> > myself of accountability for their upbringing.  If our society's in
> > trouble, then the solutions start at home.  We're trying to do our part
> > here...and so far it's working out very well.
>
> You have my best wishes for success to you and your boys.  You
> are in a very distinct minority.
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