It's funny how things change. What's even funnier is how rapidly things change.
When I was in the fifth grade, there was one specific situation that stuck out to me, like the proverbial sore thumb. Although the exact details have grown blurry due to the winds of time, the main point of the story cannot be lost, like a Quentin Tarantino flick.
There was a group of kids talking in the back of the class, as is the scene in almost any Catholic grade school. Me, not being a member of this particular crowd was naturally attracted. As I got closer, I learned that they were talking about something that my ears had never heard of before.
Motion Lotion.
I personally thought that it was some of feminine product, made for those with on-the-go lifestyles. Still, I had to be sure. So I asked, "What's 'Motion Lotion'?"
They all looked at me with eyes of surprise, followed by laughter. After they finished splitting their sides, one girl explained to me what it was, and more importantly, what it was for.
Masturbation. A four syllabled word that was strictly taboo and what I thought everyone called 'naughty'. I was sadly mistaken. In fifth grade, my eyes opened and my innocence was hereby gone. The Sex Talk came a few years later, but that one day in 1996 was as close as I thought I would get to knowing about it.
Fast forward to this.
Innocence is gone. Erased. Children are no longer children. I wouldn't be surpised if a few years from now, a third grader taught a seminar on STD's.
What happened to the days of hopscotch and cooties? Freeze Tag and Hide and Seek?
What a world is this where ELEVEN YEAR OLD children are having sex in classrooms? And they're not only having sex, but they have the know-how to post look-outs. Because they're not just doing something innocent, like drawing smiley faces on the wall. They're not doing something juvenile, like playing Game Boy during a pop quiz.
America's children are having sex.
Our children are having sex.
Children are having sex.
Something is severly wrong with today's society, where ELEVEN YEAR OLD children are engaing in an act that GOD designed for MAN and WOMAN.
And I could continue to blame parents, the government, popular music, teachers and whoever else I think might be responsible for the demoralization of our next generation, but these blogs are chock-full of whining.
Simply put, I propose action. We all are familiar with that old saying: "It takes a village to raise a child."
It's time to become that village and start raising our children again.
