The Smiths and Joneses (23 page)

              “Leon, I’m sure he’s very good about teaching teamwork, however, that doesn’t change the fact he was trained to kill. Bob, do you have any concerns about such a warrior teaching Leon?”

              “Wolf, no, I’ve met Mr. Gleason many times, he’s down to earth. He has the kids’ best interests in mind with everything he does. I’m happy Leon has him for a teacher.”

              “Bob, in the LSA an ex-solider from before the split can’t be a teacher or hold any other job that interacts with children under sixteen

              Leon asks, “Why not?”

              “Because they were trained for killing. We don’t want those who’ve killed or fought, to educate our children. No one has any idea what soldiers who might have PTSD might do under pressure. We don’t place out children in areas of potential risks.”

              Leon asks, “Mr. Wolf, what else don’t you allow your kids to do?”

              “Leon, it’s not about what we don’t allow our children, it’s that we protect our children. We don’t allow them to walk to the park if the park or playground is more than 2 blocks from their home. We don’t want them to be at risk for abduction. We don’t allow our children to play with toy weapons. Nor ride anything that might harm them. We don’t allow our children to play with tools or chemistry sets.” 

              “Does that include skateboards? What about bikes?”

              “Skateboards are not allowed; too many children have been injured on them. Bikes are different; bikes are allowed after a child has passed the bike riding test and has been issued a rider’s license, and the bike has a license plate which means it’s passed a safety inspection.”

              Leon looks shocked, “You need a bike rider’s license? Why? Who gives the test? Bikes need license plates?”

              “Our DMV gives the test. A parent drives the child and their bike to one of the DMV offices where the child takes the written test, if they pass, they are given a road test. Passing that, they get a license. License plates are purchased at the DMV too. The only other item that is required, is to have insurance.”

              “Can kids ride their bikes on the streets?”

              “That depends on the rider’s age and experience. All bike riders need to have a helmet, elbow pads and gloves to protect them if they fall.”

              Leon asks, “Isn’t that over protective?”

              “There really isn’t such thing is there? Leon have you ever seen someone fall off a bike and get injured? We choose to protect our children the best way we can.”

              “Mr. Wolf, when I was six, I fell off my bike and broke my arm, I still rode my bike. Getting scrapes and cuts, even broken bones, is all part of being a kid.”

              “Not in the LSA. We do everything possible to protect our children. Children are society’s future. We wouldn’t have allowed you to ride a bike at six.”

              Beth perks up saying, “I’ve been riding my bike since I was five. I’m good too.”

              Wolf smiles, “Beth, I’m sure you are good. However, we try to protect and cuddle our children. You like to be cuddled don’t you?”

              “Yes, from my mommy and daddy, no one else. I like to ride my bike.”

              Wolf asks, “Where do you ride it?”

              “All over, wherever I want to go.”

              Wolf looks surprises asking, “Beth, do you ride in the street?”

              “Only around home.”

              Wolf is very concerned, “Carol, how can you let Beth ride her bike in the street.”

              “Where else should she ride? This is a very quiet street.”

              “What about at the bike park?”

              “We don’t have one near us.”

              “If she were my daughter I wouldn’t let her ride on the street.”

              “Wolf, that’s just it isn’t it? She’s not your daughter; she’s ours.”

Chapter 13 

              Wolf News Network’s lead story on Friday morning is “Protective or Over Protection?” The anchors’ talking points are, “Does it indeed take a village to raise a child?” The debate is centered on the question:  Can or even should parents be able to raise their own children or should the government have a say, or in some cases, the major role in raising children? Who’s best suited to raise children? Who should be responsible for raising them? Who should be responsible for them? “The Bill O’Patrick” program on the Wolf News Channel starts off with Bill saying, “Good evening, I’m sure most of you watched this evening’s special program broadcast by Wolf and CNN comparing life in the LSA and USA twelve years later. The key question from tonight’s episode is: Who should raise your children? The LSA feels the state should have a major say in how children are raised. They feel that parents aren’t capable of raising their own children. The USA believes parents should, and can, raise their own children. Granted there’s been a lot of changes since I was a child. Some examples of these changes are;

“When I was a child, we went outside to play after breakfast, we came home when the street lights turned on for dinner or at 6:00 PM. My parents didn’t ask where I went during the day. It was normal for me and every other kid to come home dirty, sometimes with cuts and bruises. Unless blood was gushing out, or we were missing an arm or leg, we were told to go wash up for dinner. Falling off our bikes, or falling down was all part of being a kid. We had no internet, no video games, no cell phones, no DVRs, no color televisions, no computers; we played outside. We rode our bikes without helmets, since there were no bike helmets yet. We drank water from garden hoses. We rode in our parent’s cars without seatbelts. We fought with friends, we learned how to get along, we learned that if we came home late we didn’t eat dinner. We knew everyone on our street. No one would consider telling my parents how to raise me. If they did, my father might have punched them. It wasn’t anyone’s business how I was raised or how my parent’s punished me.

              “I started riding my bike when I was six, by the time I was eight I was riding two towns away to visit friends after we had moved. No one thought anything of a kid riding along the road to another town. Today people would freak out; police would be called, and parents might be arrested. The child might be placed in foster care. I learned to deal with life’s issues, like a flat tire, or falling off my bike. I learned how to ask for directions and help. I learned how to tell time without a watch and to make sure I always got home in time for dinner. The one time I didn’t come home in time for dinner, I went to bed hungry. My parents had no sense of humor about me breaking the laws of the house. My father told me many times, as long as I lived under his roof I had to follow his rules. If I wanted to move out he’d help me go.

              “Today’s children are too coddled; they are too protected from life’s ups and downs. Parents think their children are made of fine china. They're not. When I was ten, I wanted to play baseball on the local little league team. I thought being a pitcher looked like fun. I, like everyone else, got a chance to try out for the team. I took the ball, went to the pitcher's mound and threw it to the catcher. My pitch didn’t make it all the way; I was given another chance, the ball didn’t make it. I was told to keep practicing and come back when I could reach the catcher. I didn’t make the team. Not everyone made the team. Only those who could play well made the team. I learned I had to practice in order to make the team. I learned I had to become good enough to qualify. Today everyone makes the team. They don’t learn they need to practice, they never learn that life doesn’t give everyone cherries. Not everyone has the ability to do what they want to do. Not everyone can be a famous artist, not everyone can be a superstar, not everyone can be a famous actor. I learned that it took hard work to get what I wanted. Today in the LSA kids are told they are all special. They are told they are all winners. The problem with this is life doesn’t make everyone a winner. Today’s LSA kids are going to be very disappointed when they grow up and realize not all of them get to grow up to be a movie star or the new ‘Wolf of Wall Street.’ Many are going to fail and fail hard because they’ve never experienced failure before. We’re going to have a generation that’s depressed because they’re going to realize life isn’t fair; not everyone is a winner. When today’s LSA kids realize the truth, there are going to be millions of cases of depression, an entire generation will live medicated. The LSA, and if we’re not careful, we too, are going to lose an entire generation because the state or parents don’t allow kids to learn life’s lessons as kids.”

              Bill’s commentary coming on the heels of Episode 3, makes many think. Many parents think back to their childhood. They remember how their parents treated them. Some think nothing is wrong with the way they are bringing up their children, some wonder if they are harming their children. Newspapers and social media start asking questions about who’s raising our children. What will our children become when they reach adulthood? The discussion reaches the schools and churches in the USA. “Are we helping or harming our children?” is discussed at coffee shops, offices, homes and talk radio. On the LSA side of the divide, the discussion is muted. The question is censored. The LSA national social media site doesn’t allow posts asking the question. The national media supports the official government stance that parents lack the basic knowledge to raise and protect children that are the country’s future assets. Only those who’ve been trained, only those with advanced degrees on child psychology and child education, have the resources to understand children and are equipped to bring the LSA’s next generation to their maximum level of productively to the state. 

President Bloomberg is angry the USA is questioning the policies of the LSA. He orders the LSA DepLIES to jam all communications from the USA. He orders the review of all keywords that generate censor review. He orders the DepLIES to undertake a cyber attack against the USA. He tells them to make sure they don’t leave any breadcrumbs; he wants the USA social network and talk radio sites taken down.

The Washington Post publishes a matrix of the rules governing the raising of children between the two countries. The matrix is picked up by thousands of websites and Wolf News who rebroadcasts it. The matrix becomes the subject of discussion for the next day. At the end of the day, the question remains unanswered. The banner and headline, “Who should raise your children” is the seen by millions. Glenn Back quickly puts together a special program composed of videos and home movies from the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. He traces how children acted and were brought up over 40 years. He shows gun safety being taught in public schools in the 40’s and 50’s. He shows how excuses weren’t tolerated, how many schools used corporal punishment to enforce rules. He shows how children went from being polite to being rude and distrustful. He overlaid society’s changes with the changes in children.

Glenn reviews the subjects being taught in schools over 40 years; he shows the American history textbooks over the previous 40 years. He shows the changes made in the textbooks. He shows how the changes in the education system for 40 years set up the birth of the LSA and the lack of respect by children. How children went from being kids to being perfect little angels who had to be protected from being a child.  

The changes in school and our children come as a shock to many. No one gave any thought to the changes made in the education system or how kids acted in school over the previous 40 years. Glenn ends his program with a statement that shakes his audience, Glenn says, “The social safety net and welfare nation changed our children. Single parent homes have damaged our children. Paying people for doing nothing takes away their self-respect, self-esteem and self-confidence. The welfare system is destroying our society.” Glenn’s audience sits in front of their screens speechless.

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              Ron and Bev take the elevator to the ground floor deciding to start their day at the breakfast buffet. Ron says, “Bev, why don’t we walk outside a little bit before breakfast, it’s not too hot yet. We’ll build up a little appetite. 

              “Good idea.”

              When the two open the front door of the hotel, they’re met by crowds of screaming people. Barricades and the LVMPD separate two groups. Some are yelling and holding up signs supporting the LSA, the opposite group is supporting the USA. Some are holding signs saying, “My kid, my rules.” Other signs say, “It doesn’t take a village.” And, “Children are private property.”  There are also signs saying, “Children are our future.” And “Progressing to a peaceful future.”

              Ron says, “Crazies, both sides. They’re not going to change anything. Let’s go get breakfast before I say or do something I’m going to regret.”

              Before Ron and Bev can reenter the hotel, they are approached by two protestors for the LSA, “Hey you, what’s your view on who should raise children?”

              Ron answers over his shoulder, “Parents, of course.”

              The protester yells at Ron and hits him in the head with their wooden sign post.

              Ron goes down, his head bleeding from the cut, he rolls to his left coming up punching the protester in the stomach and face and kicks him in the groin. The protester goes down; others see the attack and jump on Ron. The pro-USA group jumps in to save their supporter. Within two minutes, the two groups are fighting each other. People from each group are thrown through the large plate glass front windows of the hotel/casino. Someone in the crowd is screaming for help, blood is flowing on the ground. Someone draws a small concealed handgun which he fires into the crowd hitting three of the pro-LSA protesters. Everyone pauses in mid-punch or kick at the sound of the gunfire. Everyone turns on the shooter. Protesters from both side jump on him trying to wrestle the gun away from the shooter when the gun goes off hitting one of the people trying to grab the gun, in the head. Blood and brains cover those trying to hold the shooter down. Screaming continues from those either hit or afraid of being shot.