This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Journalist appalled by behavior of media in Ferguson
I grew up poor in the United States. We didn't have a television, or air-conditioning, or a washing machine. There were lots of times when we didn't know how we were going to feed ourselves. We didn't have health insurance.
When I was six years old i asked my father for money to buy a comic book. My father explained that we couldn't afford a luxury item like that but that we would show me how to earn money. He taught me how to collect scrap metal, and other types of menial labor. He let me borrow a few tools so I could take apart old appliances that had been abandoned. I worked all day tearing apart motor housings for the copper wiring. At the end of the day my hands wore torn and bleeding. He walked me down to the salvage yard to cash in the copper. I still have the receipt the junk man gave me for the copper when I was six years old. I've been working every since.
I never did buy the comic book. Instead I saved my money and worked my way through college. We could have received welfare but my father was to proud to accept a hand out. That's the America that I once knew. You had the opportunity to work and get an education if you were willing.
But now it's different. There has been a paradigm shift and now a great deal of folks in America think someone owes them something. If you want something that's not yours that's ok. Just take it. You're entitled simply because you exist. Don't like the way things are going and feel like setting the local shopping market on fire? That's ok too. Who cares if the owner worked his whole life to start that business and somebody else might die in the process? That's not your problem. You're entitled. Who cares if the insurance gets cancelled and the local businesses move away. and now your neighbors can't even find a place to buy a quart of milk? That's not your problem. You're entitled. Who cares about the rule of law or due process? That's just somebody else's opinion and that's not your problem. You're entitled. Who cares if people you know kill each other in record numbers over nothing? That's not your problem. You're entitled.
Stopit Shutup:
ReplyDeleteI grew up poor in the United States. We didn't have a television, or air-conditioning, or a washing machine. There were lots of times when we didn't know how we were going to feed ourselves. We didn't have health insurance.
When I was six years old i asked my father for money to buy a comic book. My father explained that we couldn't afford a luxury item like that but that we would show me how to earn money. He taught me how to collect scrap metal, and other types of menial labor. He let me borrow a few tools so I could take apart old appliances that had been abandoned. I worked all day tearing apart motor housings for the copper wiring. At the end of the day my hands wore torn and bleeding. He walked me down to the salvage yard to cash in the copper. I still have the receipt the junk man gave me for the copper when I was six years old. I've been working every since.
I never did buy the comic book. Instead I saved my money and worked my way through college. We could have received welfare but my father was to proud to accept a hand out. That's the America that I once knew. You had the opportunity to work and get an education if you were willing.
But now it's different. There has been a paradigm shift and now a great deal of folks in America think someone owes them something. If you want something that's not yours that's ok. Just take it. You're entitled simply because you exist. Don't like the way things are going and feel like setting the local shopping market on fire? That's ok too. Who cares if the owner worked his whole life to start that business and somebody else might die in the process? That's not your problem. You're entitled. Who cares if the insurance gets cancelled and the local businesses move away. and now your neighbors can't even find a place to buy a quart of milk? That's not your problem. You're entitled. Who cares about the rule of law or due process? That's just somebody else's opinion and that's not your problem. You're entitled. Who cares if people you know kill each other in record numbers over nothing? That's not your problem. You're entitled.