I'd rather see mud wrestling than listen to mud slinging

I think that maybe Larry The Cable Guy may have summed up just about everything when it comes to asking for forgiveness in this day and age. Whenever the stocky, world-wizened wisenheimer lets loose with a somewhat questionable joke, he either says, “that’s funny right there, no matter who you are,” or quips, “Lord please forgive me and may God bless the Pygmies in New Guinea.”

It’s actually the second quote that kind of sums up where we are in the scheme of things in this over-politicized world we live in today. It seems that anyone can be slammed for anything they may have done over the years, regardless of what it might have been, their age at the time, or the temperament of the country or society in general. The actions are reviewed under the social magnifying glass of today; not the one that was in place at the time of such indiscretion.

Good golly, do we need to put a hold on this kind of malarkey.

“But David what possibly could be bothering you now, you ask?”

Well, it seems that poor Mitt Romney is now being hauled on the carpet for a “prank” he was involved in when he was in high school. Apparently, a young Mitt was involved in pinning down a classmate and cutting his hair back in 1965.

Oh, give me a break.

In 1965, the US was involved in that wonderful vacation experience called Vietnam. During that same time period, culture was being totally overturned from the flattop hair styles of the ‘50s to the mop heads and DAs of the early ‘60s. Is it any wonder that some of the more radical ‘50s types, you know with the cigarette pack rolled up in the T-shirt sleeve, might sort of impress their short-haired philosophy on a classmate with long hair? Come on. That was a different time and place in these here United States.

Today, such a move would end up in a lawsuit for sure. But back then, it was a bit of a saner time. Sure people would get mad, and likely raise a fit with the school, but the idea of such a thing being such a big deal was ridiculous. But then, this is politics, and that changes everything. Mitt probably should apologize for such a dastardly action. And, he also needs to apologize for a few other classroom indiscretions like spitballs and disrupting class.

Really, my school experienced all kinds of crazy things like that. Somehow, and no I was not part of this, we had kids who landed inside trash cans head first, a kid locked in a wall locker and the locker turned to face the wall (he only missed one class), and a variety of arm punches, leg punches, face slappings, and every body’s biggest fear, the swirly.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, swirly, suffice to say you don’t want to know. For those who do know the term, no explanation is necessary, and for those who were victims, I can only say “I am sorry.”

Still, it seems ridiculous to dig so far back into someone’s life in order to come up with something they have done that might show poor character traits. It’s not as if that has any bearing at all on the coming election, or what the person is like today. We all make mistakes, we all have errors in judgment, and surprisingly enough a lot of that stuff happens when we are young.

One of the biggest problems we have today, in my most humble yet supremely accurate opinion, is how we handle things that happen to our kids. It seems to me that the Serve and Protect set, and its ubiquitous tentacles are dead set on not giving kids a chance. Take for instance this reported incident involving Mitt. No doubt today he would have faced the legal consequences of assault, and then, once in the legal “system” would have been pounded to give up other people for other unrelated crimes and misdemeanors.

To me, it’s about time we stop all this frivolous junk. Frankly, I don’t care if Mitt was involved in some ridiculous, stupid kid’s prank. I also don’t care too much about stupid stuff like someone’s birth certificate, but I guess politics be politics and anything I can throw at you is OK, and hopefully I can throw enough stuff that something will stick and swing the tide of support in my favor. But to me, it’s all catty and just shows the integrity of our society today.

The way we’re going, it won’t be long before this democracy is cast on the trash heap with the Greeks and Romans. It is an amazing world we live in. Simply amazing.