As parents we must be vigilant and watch the constant stream of data that is thrown at our children. Children (and some adults) often believe that everything that comes in electronic form is researched and fact. Frequently what we see and hear is opinion, or worse messages designed to deceive. Children and young adults are particularly susceptible to the issue of believing everything that comes their way.
One of my current favorites is a television/internet ad produced by a college that uses the tag line “Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.” When I first heard this, I just mentally filed it away as background noise. After all the ad was well done, slick, and on the surface sounded good. But the message is exactly backward and intentionally deceptive.
America is the best place for anyone regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, or skill to work to get ahead. We are not perfect, but the reason people fight to come here legally and illegally is because of the opportunity we offer. The correct statement is “Even though talent is not evenly distributed, in America opportunity is available to all who work.”
If talent were evenly distributed, we would all be brain surgeons, NBA stars, Nobel Laureates, or Pulitzer Prize winning authors. In America, the goal is to find your passion and pursue it. You will have to work for what you want, but in America today there are few if any barriers to pursuing any dream.
When we accept statements without question, then ideas like CRT, Modern Monetary Theory, and Defund the Police begin to take hold. Our children hear these ideas, and if parents don’t push back, then they eventually weave their way into the fabric of our nation.
Joseph Goebbels, one of the most notorious villains of the 20th century noted: “A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.” This was accurate during World War II, and it is accurate now. For the sake of our children and the future of our nation we all need to push back!
