Jumping the Shark

By now, this term has become part of our collective lexicon. It harks back to an episode near the end of the series run for "Happy Days".

Most everyone knows that to say something has 'jumped the shark' means that you have lost complete focus and are making a desperate bid to keep things going when everyone around you knows that a graceful exit would have made more sense.

I fear our national morality has jumped the shark and gone back for seconds.

I don't want to preach. I leave that to people more erudite and credible.

But I am concerned that the shark jumping has reached epidemic proportions.

We destroy ourselves by degrees, administering to ourselves and our nation the slow poison of decay and destruction from within.

I read a really good item from some old newspaper clippings that were in my Aunt's household items as we helped to sort and organize her no longer needed goods.

It was a bold reminder that appetites and passions can lead to the undoing of us all if not checked by boundaries and held in reserve for the right purposes.

Here is the article:

Twelve Rules For Raising Delinquent Children

1. Begin in infancy to give the child everything he wants. In this way, he will grow to believe the world owes him a living.

2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. This will make him think he's cute. It will also encourage him to pick up 'cuter' phrases that will blow off the top of your head later.

3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait till he's 21 and then let him 'decide for himself'.

4. Avoid the use of the word 'wrong'. It may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe, later, when he is arrested for stealing a car, that society is against him and he is being persecuted.

5. Pick up everything he leaves lying around - - books, shoes and clothing. Do everything for him so that he will be experienced in throwing all responsibility onto others.

6. Let him read any printed matter he can get his hands on. Be careful that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but let his mind feast on garbage.

7. Quarrel frequently in front of your children. In this way, he will not be too shocked when his home is broken up later.

8. Give a child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his own. Why should he have things as tough as you had them?

9. Satisfy his every carving for food, drink and comfort. See that every sensual desire is gratified. Denial may lead to harmful frustration.

10. Take his part against neighbors, teachers and policeman. They are all prejudiced against your child.

11. When he gets into real trouble, apologize for yourself by saying 'I never could do anything with him'.

12. Prepare yourself for a life of grief. You will be apt to have it.

[FROM THE HOUSTON, TEXAS POLICE DEPARTMENT - 1959]

It's funny, the time has gone by and we are almost 50 years from the time this was written.

Critics would claim that every generation of youth was decried by the previous one as being off the mark, but the truth is, with every passing generation we have accepted things as being okay which really aren't.

In the name of 'getting along' and 'free choice', we have legislated all kinds of sin.

Shame has disappeared as a motivation for change. We don't want to hurt someone's feelings by making them feel bad for their choices. The end result is that without shame, they choose even worse things at every turn of the screw.

Eventually, society 'jumps the shark'. We are derailed from our ambitions by our own lack of personal self-control. We are removed from opportunity, not because there is something preventing us from succeeding, but because we have chosen willingly to thwart ourselves.

Our society now rewards laziness as if it is some delightful new virtue. We pay corrupt businessmen for making lies seem plausible. We celebrate sin as if it is not a big deal and that those who don't see it the way that is the politically correct form for the day are somehow bigots.

It's time for a rewind, rewrite and do over.

We can't erase the past, but we can change gears and avoid the continued opportunity to pass over the shark in hopes that today won't be the day he jumps up and bites us in the butt with the natural consequences of stupid choices.

Just thinking while doing a bit of surfing this morning...