OT -Are we teaching our kids NOT to pay attention?

People who make things happen

People who watch things happen

People who wonder "what the he$$ happened?"

You are obviously in the latter category!

People who sit around and complain about the government remind me of a kid trying to explain to his mom how the lamp in the living room got broke... "it broke all by itself, mom!". It's really cute when you are 5 years old; it's pathetic when you are an adult.

Don't like the way things are? Change them!

Ok, there's my rant for today.

Mike worked for a metal fabrication place that had many large stamping machines to form whatever it was they were making. one of the machines was a huge press with several "safety" features. there was a large guard that came down between the operator and press, as well as a pair of cables that connected to heavy gloves the operator wore. as the hydraulic ram came down, these cables were pulled over a set of pulleys and pulled the operator's hands out from under the ram and back behind the guard. Mike said the guy who normally operated this large press would place the piece of metal under the ram, and relax his arms and the cables would pull his hands out as the ram came down. the operator had been doing this for months (if not years i guess). can any of you see where this is going????
one day the safety cables jumped off the pulleys and instead of pulling the operator's hands out like they had untold times previously, the guy's hands were left under the ram and crushed with about 50 tons of pressure. Mike said when he went over and they pulled the guy out his hands were basically two piles of mush.
there is only one true safety device. it is a plain shade of gray and is contained in an off-white colored vessel made of calcium resting between your shoulders. you have a brain for a reason, and it isn't to keep your eyes from rolling back into your skull.

andy b.

I grew up on a farm and was always surrounded by big, heavy, dangerous equipment that did not have all these wonderful saftey devices our government deems necessary to protect us from ourselves. My father & mother did a great job of impressing upon my young brain the idea that if I did something stupid - e.g. not pay attention to what was where and also where it might be going - that I could DIE! I completely understood that relationship. From what I've witnessed of today's kids, they just don't grasp that concept, quite possibly as a result of these video games in which when one dies, one comes back to life, completely unscathed, and continues on.

For example, I've tried numerous times to convince my 5-year-old granddaugther that she bruised her knee because she was jumping on ball (despite being told that just such a thing could happen), not just kicking it, and that it was not the ball's fault. Someday, I'll get thru...

Depending upon the adults in each child's life, this connection may never be made, as evidenced by the continuous stories in the media of kids performing horrendous acts of violence. This is not say that we still shouldn't hold these dirtbags responsible for their actions. Afterall, punishment for illicit acts is a consequence of performing said actions.

Enough of that, it rained all last week and the Allis and the Deere sat out all week (coffee cans over the stacks). Figure got moisture in the mag on the Allis, so couldn"t belly mow. And the Deere fired right now, but caught a stump with the guard on the front of the bush hog and bent it back and down, now acts more like a submarine gouging the grass. Can"t mow until I fix them, because got no children to send out to broaden their horizons by having them fix them. Darn.

They have all these safety features on cars now, and in my opinion they have gone way beyond the point of dimminishing returns....that is to say they have actually made things more dangerous.

The average person gets into a new car, and it has all these features. It handles and stops so well, that they get careless when driving and start to tailgate people on the freeway while talking on the phone and eating at the same time.

Me....I drive a 1960 Chevrolet during the summer months. It has no safety belts, and simple drum brakes all around.....Yet, I feel safer BECAUSE I AM PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT I AM DOING.

That is all I was trying to say. Drivers and passenger side airbags....disc brakes...abs....and it goes on and on.....YOU PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR ALL THESE FEATURES, YET YOU WOULDN'T NEED THEM IF PEOPLE WOULD JUST PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY ARE DOING BEHIND THE WHEEL.

Sorry for the rant.