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Selling Sex and Corruption to Your Kids |
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Editor's note: This is the first part of a groundbreaking, two-part series on today's youth culture, by WND Vice President and Managing Editor David Kupelian. It is a frank and in-depth exploration of an often-shocking subject, and may not be suitable reading for children. Parental discretion is advised. © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com "A Scout is trustworthy … loyal … helpful … friendly … courteous … kind …" I'm watching my 12-year-old son Joshua and two dozen other Boy Scouts together recite the Scout Law at their weekly troop meeting. It's a refreshingly hopeful and manly vignette in an era of wall-to-wall teen confusion. As I stand in rapt attention – my eyes exploring the boys' uniforms, searching out all the badges, patches, insignias and other colorful signs of their allegiance to Scouting's high ideals – my mind wanders back a few years to a time when my son wanted to wear a different "uniform." Our family had traveled to Cape May, New Jersey, to vacation on a warm Atlantic beach with close relatives we hadn't seen in a long time. Joshua hit it off great with his cousin Mark, several years his senior. A fun-loving and thoroughly decent kid, Mark didn't have a mean bone in his body. One little thing, though. Mark wore a choker around his neck. Of course, Joshua had always regarded necklaces, bracelets, earrings and the like as strictly girls' stuff, and wouldn't dream of donning such gear himself and "looking like a girl" (or a "weirdo"). You guessed it. By the end of one week, Joshua told me he really wanted to get a choker, like his cousin's. He just … felt like wearing one, that's all. No big deal, Dad. I took him for a walk out on the jetty where we could be alone. Before long, I discovered that not only had my son developed this powerful desire to wear a piece of punk jewelry around his neck – something he had formerly despised – but he was also noticeably hostile toward me for some strange reason, even though he admitted I had done nothing to offend him. As we talked, it dawned on me what was going on. Obviously he wanted to be like his older cousin, whom he looked up to and had bonded with – hence the desire to wear a dumb-looking neck choker. But me? I now stood there providing an uncomfortable contrast, seeing as I represented his state of mind before he was captivated by this alien desire. I was a threat to his new allegiance, so he was rejecting me along with his own previous viewpoint. To read the entire article: Selling Sex and Corruption to Your Kids |
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