So everyone blamed corporate America and lobbed a few lawsuits into the air. Well, more kids die, apparently. In a speech on Tuesday, a pale and subdued President Clinton asked the nation to help our children resolve their problems without resorting to deadly weapons. We do know that we must do more to reach out to our children and teach them to express their anger and to resolve their conflicts with words, not weapons, the president said. Parents are at work, trying to improve the second-quarter earnings report for their companies.
Teachers already feel over-worked and resent their roles as surrogate parents and psychiatrists.
The creative and artistic outlets once available have been attacked in their own right. Programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts have been practically dismantled. Bah mitzvahs, first communions, skating parties, jam-packed swimming pools, tree houses, recess, crushes, dances, first dates, camping trips, bicycle rides. Heavy metallic objects shining black or silver that take two hands to hold. A faint odor of oil and power waft up to still-growing noses.