Today is Youth Movement day in Flanders. All kids who are member of a youth movement (be it Scouts, Chiro, KSA, KLJ, ...) are expected to appear in their uniform at school. Bas and Joppe did, wearing it with a certain pride, being able to show off their being part of Chiro Koekelare. Moreover, youth movements all over the country are coming out on the streets to show they exist, and ask consideration for the fact that every week more than 250,000 kids in Flanders can spend a great afternoon or day thanks to over 40,000 young people volunteering to lead them.
Youth movements are great if you ask me. They are a place where children and youngsters can play, get dirty, make friends and, what's even more important, learn to live and work together. It's a place where you can tackle challenges, overcome problems, take initiative and discover the world. This does not always happen peacefully and quietly, but learning through trial and error, some cuts and bruises included, is part of life.
Funnily enough, newspapers in Flanders today also reported about certain schools in the U.S. where it is no longer permitted to play tag. Apparently, certain educators say games like 'it' are dangerous. Before, elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, had already banned tag at recess. Others, including a suburban Charleston, South Carolina school, dumped contact sports such as soccer and touch football. And in other cities too, schools already took similar actions months or even years ago.
What's next, I wonder: keep kids inside until they're 25?
Although I can't disagee with the point of your post, my objection lies with the header. You've created a serial, with no obvious end in sight :-)
Posted by: Andrea Weckerle | October 20, 2006 at 07:59 PM
Andrea: you are right. But don't worry, even though there will probably never come an end to my uhm.. let's call it curiosity about the US, the serial is not meant to be judgmental (at least not in a general fashion - after all, THE American does not exist). Even though I do not always agree with certain evolutions in society on the other side of the Atlantic, I could just as well make a similar serial on just about any other country in the world, including my own :-). But on the other hand: a country which claims economic, military and moral leadership in the (Western) world, should be prepared to take some (constructive) criticism. :-) And it's not even criticism in my case: it is often a deeply felt wonder. Call it a "how on earth...?" kind of reflex. Perhaps it is based on my childhood image of the United States; the country of the black and white Saturday afternoon movies on Belgian TV (think Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, Bettie Page, Clark Gable, James Dean, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and so on and so forth), where the good guys won from the bad guys, where every family had a big fridge,... well just about every cliché you can think of. Of course, society has evolved, the world has evolved, and I am just not sure if the leaders or the moral majority in the US are taking their (great, I am sure) country in the right direction. But again, that probably goes for just about any other country in the Western hemisphere nowadays. So: don't worry about the header. It's a fact there will be more of that and there's nothing you can do about it... :-).
Posted by: Serge | October 21, 2006 at 02:11 PM