When I was a kid, I was taught to think, to use the brain I was born with and figure things out. My mother wanted to ensure I could function on my own one day, that I could handle as many challenges as life might throw at me. In order to do that, she told me I had to think, be able to see a problem or situation and figure out what to do or how to handle a particular scenario. I was a good kid, but a curious kid. I wanted to see how things worked and didn't always believe that my Mom or Dad would find out if I made a mistake or just didn't think. Of course, my mother always seemed to catch all my screw ups for which I often paid dearly. Spankings were normal in my household and since I was the only child, they came often. As an older kid, I now realize that during my boomer generation, it really was child abuse.
My parents and those of my friends did not believe in sparing the rod. I will readily admit, without any shame, that I was spoiled to the nth degree. My Grandparents spoiled me rotten and I loved every bit of it. My Gran spanked me once, and my Gramps never. Naaah, that was Mom and Dad's job, and believe me, it seemed periodically they relished it, especially my Dad. We had weeping willow trees and in the summer, my mother would have me strip a branch off the tree and give it to her so she could spank me. There were times I thought my little bum was going to burn forever.
Eventually, I got older and the spankings were replaced by being grounded for one to three weeks at a time, depending on the severity of my actions. Yet, through all the spankings and groundings I received, I learned several things. I learned respect for my parents, myself and those around me. I learned how to think for myself and not to always follow the crowd. I learned how to handle myself in different situations and to think before I acted, to assess possible consequences and act accordingly.
In today's society, the younger generation (yes, even older "adults") seem to have little or no manners, moreover, it appears they've lost or don't even have common sense. As I see women of all ages and sizes dressing like hookers (please females, get a grip), young guys wearing their pants below their waistlines (no, it's not styling...it's stupid), cursing in front of women and the elderly, I have to wonder what happened to the society I once knew. Some standards should never change. Some may read this and think I am behind the times, that I don't know what's going on. My reply would be, "you couldn't be more wrong". While fashion itself isn't that important to me anymore, I definitely keep up with what's hip, what's current and what's in the news. I was the clothes horse of my generation but I didn't always follow the crowd.
I had tons of common sense, drummed into me by my grandparents and parents until they knew I had learned it on my own. Sure, there were crazy things I did and certain people I thought were cool and wanted to be like them. However, when it came to being like "them" or keeping my act together, no contest there, it was all about ME!
Life is so wonderful, it is so full of surprises, some are great and some deeply disturbing and upsetting. But allowing others to think for us, at least in my opinion, robs us of some of the joys to come in our own lives. Getting wrapped up in reality shows, making judgments about people we don't even know, allowing technology to rule our lives to the point that we as a society can't even communicate well face-to-face anymore, believing everything that is said and seen on TV; all these things serve to keep us from asking questions about our own lives. They keep us from thinking about what is happening to our children, what we are doing to our planet, about how we are treating each other.
I don't condone striking children (although some adults could use a few), but one thing I remember about those spankings I received, I became a better person because I didn't want them to happen again. Common sense told me not to do whatever it was I did again because I might get popped by Mom or Dad. Learning to think helped me figure out how to do whatever it was in a way that sometimes didn't hurt me, didn't make my family mad, and, I slowly realized that whatever it was wasn't always that much fun after awhile anyway
Thinking is a process, a process of learning to look at things and situations and figuring out what, if anything, needs to be done and do it, without the need of someone having to always come to the rescue. Common sense, in my opinion, is just the most basic level of understanding of right and wrong and grasping that there is a time and place for everything.
As a kid I learned how important it was to formulate my own thoughts while learning to listen to what was happening around me. Like, not laughing out loud when I saw my mom climbing up a tree because our dog, Blue, was after her. I had been told to get out of the tree earlier and I didn't, Blue had heard her spanking me and was coming to my rescue. See.....common sense.
