Kids These Days

Kids these days...they can't get away with anything. I guess it's kind of their own fault. Or social media's.

Back when I used to walk five miles uphill both ways to school, before the advent of instant sharing of all things, kids did crazy things. It was rare for the press to pick up on the stuff we did and make it front page news. Today, there is no place to hid.

Like the Stanford Band, for instance. Their antics from the Rose Bowl were big news here in Iowa. Stanford Cow

While I wasn't at the game, and ESPN didn't care to show the performance once they realized the gig wasn't a marching band spelling out the word Cardinal. I didn't see it until Twitter links and articles began to show up online after the game. It seems Hawkeye fans booed the performance making fun of Iowa farmers and they began to tweet about it. Some of the tweets were a hoot! Like the guy who said he overheard someone in the crowd say "the cow isn't even shaped right"! Only an Iowan, right?

Soon the real news media was covering "the story". People were pleased to see that the Stanford Band is banned from traveling to games due some other antics having to do with alcohol and some such (not cows and Farmersonly.com). Still, some serious angst went out toward those kids. Iowans wrote columns about how important our state is in delivering food to America. Seriously? I doubt band members were thinking about food when they came up with the routine. (unless they were smoking doobies and had the munchies).

I was surprised that people got so bent out of shape about the band. Can't we laugh at goofy stuff anymore? Why must we be so serious all the time?

When I was in college, there was a terrible tragedy where a cult leader named Jim Jones talked hundreds of people into committing mass suicide at the People's Temple in Guyana. They drank poison mixed with Kool aid.

What did college kids at the U of I do? They had Jonestown parties with liquor and Kool aid (according to my Atlantic Hawkeye friends). I thought it was funny. Did we think about the victims or their families? No. We were self-centered college kids. It was all about us!

a pic of HS friends during college years

Does this prove we are uncaring souls? Not really. Just like those in law enforcement and health care professions - we need to carry on. Life can be stressful - even for supposed crazy college kids. Blowing off steam by being "bad ass" can help.

When we grow up that line gets much finer - we no longer get the "just a kid" benefit of the doubt. Some people say the PC police are overboard. For the most part I like the changes - in our behavior and the way we talk. I admit I'm embarrassed about some of the jokes I told in the past - they were quite racist and sexist. I'll probably continue to tell some sexist ones...

Sometimes I still like being a little bit bad.