RickRouse.com

I was in Wal-Mart the other day when a group of young teenagers walked by, and I overheard one of them make the following statement: “I wish my parents would just die already and leave everything they have to me.” The sad part is, judging by the serious look on his face, I don’t think he was kidding.

In all of my days, I have NEVER been mad enough at my parents to say something like that, even in jest. It seems that many kids these days have no respect whatsoever for their parents and other people in positions of authority over them. Of course there are indeed bad parents in the world, but I have always been amazed at the capacity of abused and neglected children to love their parents even when they received little love from them in return.

I could be wrong, but I believe the primary reason for the growing animosity some kids have towards their elders is the way government has interfered in our family lives and in the schools. When I was growing up, if a kid said or did something out of line while in class, the teacher could (and usually would) get out the paddle and give him/her something to think about. That option has all but disappeared in our public schools, and these days kids know they can do or say pretty much anything they want without receiving any real punishment.

And as if that isn’t bad enough, the situation is even worse at home. Most parents are now afraid to discipline their kids due to the very real threat of child abuse charges being levied by over-zealous Social Services offices all across the nation. Spanking is no longer an acceptable punishment, leaving non-effective actions such as “timeouts” and “grounding” as the only options available to frustrated parents.

I can say with absolute certainty that no parent has ever loved her child more than my mom loved hers, and I can recall many a time when she would send us kids out to the woods to cut our own “switch”. And believe me, she used it, and used it quite well. If she “whipped” us today, she would undoubtedly go to jail and/or lose custody of her kids, and that would be a true shame because no one on the planet could have ever loved us and cared for us as much as mom.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly NOT advocating real child abuse, either by teachers and principals or by parents. But I AM advocating the judicious use of corporal punishment whenever and wherever it is needed in order to instill and maintain discipline in a child. I grew up getting “whippings” when I deserved them, and I thank the good Lord that I grew up in a day and time when they were allowed. If I hadn’t, I hate to think what kind of life I might be living today.

Mom, thanks for all of the love and kindness you gave to me and my brothers and sister when we were growing up. And thanks most of all for loving us enough to “wear us out” when we needed it.

Pierre Omidyar launched Ebay on September 4, 1995 as a “place” where ordinary folks like you and me could sell our merchandise on a level playing field with other sellers of all types and sizes. Over the years literally millions of small businesses have sprung up selling their wares on Ebay – many of them exclusively on Ebay.
 
But then the inevitable happened: Ebay became a public corporation, and all of a sudden the friendly “community” that once made everyone feel at home became a restrictive place with lots of one way streets and confusing rules, not to mention an ever-increasing hunger for more and more revenue.
 
Over time, the powers-that-be at Ebay weeded out many of the less profitable (for Ebay) small mom-and-pop sellers, making it clear that they had little room for those who earned little cash for the shareholders. That much was to be expected since we see similar changes any time a company goes public. But lately something quite strange has taken hold at the offices of the online auction giant: Now they’re taking the inexplicable step of driving off their largest sellers too.
 
Guised as an attempt to make Ebay more “friendly” to buyers, the company has raised the fees sellers must pay for every completed transaction and stripped them of the ability to leave feedback for sellers, the longtime cornerstone of the community’s foundation of trust between buyer and seller. Somehow I doubt if this strategy will work.
 
As a former “Ebay seller” and occasional buyer, I feel something of an emotional attachment to the company. That’s why it’s so sad to have to sit back and watch it lose its luster and become a mere shell of its former self. But such is progress I suppose. Like “Main Street America”, the Ebay community is changing into something that bears little resemblance to the one I “grew up in”.

At 443 feet, the London Eye is the world’s tallest “Ferris Wheel” in Europe and one of the tallest on the planet. That means that Cheria (who is deathly afraid of heights) likely would have never gotten on it anyway, but after she finds out what happened last Tuesday there will no longer be any doubt.
 
On March 25 approximately 400 people became stranded on the “Eye” (it holds 800) when a problem occurred with one of the four huge tires that makes the wheel rotate. It only took about an hour for technicians to fix the problem, but it’s a good bet that there were at least a handful of folks like Cheria who had reluctantly climbed aboard and then had to endure an hour of sitting in mid-air.
 
Of course the folks who actually enjoy such things probably had the time of their lives since those near the top of the wheel can see for approximately 25 miles! If we ever make it over to London (by ship of course), I would love to take the London Eye for a whirl. Let me tell you, that would be one fun 30 minute adventure. I wonder if Cheria will accompany me? (Yeah, right!)