Corrosion

This is going to come off as that grumpy old man standing on his porch yelling at the kids who’s ball came over the fence to get off his lawn…but so be it!

Everywhere I looked yesterday I saw decay, disintegration, rust, corrosion. I traveled towards Lansing to my granddaughter’s Catholic school to watch her spring musical. The music teacher had hair in a ponytail down to his waste. He was wearing a short sleeve Hawaiian shirt and had tattoos all over his arms. He seemed to care about the students. Just before the concert started a huge women came through our side of the gym uttering “Wide load coming through!” She was carrying her also huge and we’ll find out soon, autistic son. The gymnasium was jam packed with more tattoos and obesity. I try hard to not be judgemental but it seems people aren’t striving to do better anymore. It seems they’re happy with just getting by. The work ethic the belief that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it has corroded. I don’t believe this happened all at once and I know this isn’t true of everyone. I too can be lazy and look for immediate gratification but the amount of rot everywhere is evident.

Kindergarten and first grade performed first. They sang “The Cat Came Back” Catchy tune. Horrendous but highly entertaining. Second grade I think played xylophones. They were separated into groups and one group had a little bit of timing. Otherwise equally horrendous to the earlier performance. Third grade I think banged on drums? Next came the reason I came to the concert and she was of course stellar, but you could barely hear her because of a couple of loud girls with strange names on the opposite side of the stage. Her fourth grade sang and played recorders. Their number was “The Eye of the Tiger”. Didn’t motivate me as much as when I heard it the first time watching Rocky III but still I know talent when I see it…way to go Granddaughter! Back to the show. Fifth grade more drums. I almost laughed out loud. By now the huge autistic boy was crawling under the benched seating and making sounds that drew the attention of the performers. I don’t think “Wide Load” had a husband to help her. I think the performance reached the crescendo of horrendous when the sixth grade played buckets. It wasn’t just that they had terrible sound but none of the percussionists hit their bucket at the same time. No rhythm. It was as if the intention was to drive us out of the gym! I stood I clapped and I wondered how in the hell we got here?

The performance was over I hugged my granddaughter and told my wife I’m heading to the car and bolted out the now open side door of the gym like a fire alarm was pulled. By the way I didn’t see a climbing rope, peg board or pull up bar in the gym. Actually I’m not certain that there were any basketball hoops in that gym.

Now we’re off to the local garden/grocery/brewery center to sit and have a drink with our star performer and her parents. Much more skin and many more tattoos. One dude is dressed as a woman and its noticeable that most people don’t want to make eye contact. Its’ a very diverse crowd and that I’m told is most important. There is a couple (I think) next to us and they have a little boy probably 18 months old. He walks over to me with a blank look on his face. I see that a lot and think that those pie faced kids don’t get much needed attention from their parents. More corrosive action. He’ll sooner know how to hold a cell phone than complete a sentence. His name was Lincoln. Not Steve or Joe but Lincoln. At least he’s named after one of our historically for now, greatest Presidents. They probably spelled it L-e-e-n-k-e-n.

Were heading to dinner now a mile up the road. Just Gramma, me and our Granddaughter. We get a booth and our waiter comes over. He too has tattoos, earrings and a nose ring. He’s wearing a bandana over his long hair but he’s pleasant enough and does a pretty good job waiting our table. We have a young server come over to bring bread and water and he mumbles something. He’s one of those pie faced toddlers that didn’t get any attention and just turned 16. I want to ask him to speak up but I’m distracted by more “wide loads” in the booths across from me. These were double wides! We eat dinner and talk about school and the musical and the obnoxious girl on the other side of the stage during my granddaughter’s performance.

Discipline is absent. Excellence is missing. Substance is gone. Corroded away! Times are very different. The music teacher probably commands respect and the fact that all of the students stood and somewhat admirably performed should be applauded…I guess. Something is missing and it feels, looks, sounds like it’s the endeavor to do better…be better! I’m not criticizing the assembled Elementary students. I am criticizing some of their parents, teachers, their waiters and waitresses and the information and entertainment that the young performers see daily. Everyone and everything is just getting by. It is sloth and grievance and fear leading to a corrosion of the iron will to be better!

I’m getting off my porch now. I’ve yelled at the kids to get off my lawn enough. Hard to say how and why we got here. I hate to write the words '“when I was young” because I’m pretty certain my Elementary spring musical was just as bad as the matinee I just watched. I know our teachers were harder on us. Mr K yanked my hair and dragged me out of the gym for hitting a Badminton birdie overhand. I never did that again. Never played Badminton again. Students that had no musical ability or rhythm were relegated to making a sign and standing mute at the back of the performance and the rare learning disabled child (Wide Load’s Boy) barely went out in public. I’m not certain those were good things it just felt like everyone was striving to do their best, possibly out of fear. Maybe we work to find the proper balance. Tough love. Get a haircut. Take out a few piercings, lose some weight and put down the cell phone. Make eye contact, shake hands and speak audibly. The Elementary musicians are watching. Maybe a little Bondo application, sand paper and paint can repair the rust and stop the corrosion.