Posted by
Curtal Friar on Monday, May 12, 2008 6:09:17 AM
The other day, I took my son to a local hamburger joint to eat dinner. The way the place works, you go to the counter, order what you want and pay for it, and then they give you a small "plaque" with a number on it that you set on your table, and when the employee comes out with your food, he knows where to take it. Well, on the kids meal bag that my son's food was in, there is a perforated ticket on one side that you tear off and take back up to the counter to redeem for a dessert, a small serving of ice cream with the option of having sprinkles on top.
Well, normally I would go up to the counter and get the ice cream and take it back to my son. But the other day, my son, who has just reached the grand old age of six and a half, grabbed the bag and tore off the ticket and told me that he was going up to get the ice cream. He did not want me to get it for him. In his view, he was big enough and able enough to get it all by himself, and I was to sit at the table and wait for him to get back with the dessert. My first thought was "hell no," but I relented before I replied to him. I shrugged and told him to make sure he does not jump ahead of anyone who might already be in line, and he told me "okay, dad."
Of course, being that there were several people up front, I followed behind him and stood just far enough back so he could do everything all by himself, but close enough in case any freak tried to do anything to my son. Maybe I am overprotective, but I have read one too many times about kids being kidnapped and killed or worse, so there was no way I was just going to sit at my table and hope that nothing happened to my son.
Well, my son went up, got in line, waited his turn, and when he got to the counter, I saw him hand the ticket to the attendant and explain what he wanted. A minute later he had his ice cream, and he turned around and made his way back to the table. I walked quickly to try to get back before he noticed me, but he saw me and asked me why I had gone up, and I told him that I was just making sure he was safe the whole time. He thought for a moment, and then said that it was okay for me to follow behind to do that, but to make sure that I do not go to the counter with him or do anything for him, as he could now do it all himself.
I have to say, this made me proud of my son. The little guy was making a stab to stand on his own two feet and take care of his own affairs. But as time went on and I thought more about the incident, it occurred to me that what my son did was a great analogy of one of the things I love most about America, and that is our traditional attribute of self-reliance.
What happened at that hamburger joint illustrates for me the proper relationship between an American citizen and the American government. An American should not need the government to take care of his affairs, he should be quite capable of doing that all by himself. The government is there to protect the citizen from outside forces that may seek to harm him, but that is where government involvement in his affairs needs to stop.
Today, our government behaves in ways that would strip us of the traditional Amercian virtue of self-reliance, but it is not too late to stop and reverse that trend. There are many ways to do this, one of which is by writing columns and such and trying to warn Americans about government intrusion into their lives, but we also need to take action. We need to fight government policies and agendas and organizations that would make us overly dependent on bureaucrats, but I am starting to feel that perhaps the best thing we can do is raise our children to be absolutely self-reliant and strong. Perhaps the best way to get rid of all the d*mn entitlement programs that have the potential to make us weak and dependent on the government is to raise a generation of Americans that does not need them.