When I married my wife, I gained many new family members. Among them I picked up some uncles that can only be described as awesome. Among them was Uncle Robin. I only got to know Uncle Robin for a few years before he passed away, but there are two things that I always remember when I think about him. First of all, Uncle Robin was always smiling, and it wasn't one of those fake forced smiles that makes you uncomfortable. It was genuine; he was a happy guy. The other deep impression that he left on me was the subject matter of the last two conversations that I had with him. The last two times that we spoke, we discussed the illogical, imbecilic, and destructive movement in our culture toward attempting to disconnect results and consequences from actions. The motivation behind the movement is, of course, the self-esteem of the children. In the name of our children's feelings, we have robbed large segments of more than one generation of the ability to correctly deal with their emotions. We have sought to create an artificial world wherein victory, loss and the fight that leads to them do not exist and their meanings are lost. We talked about how when we were growing up, we were allowed to lose...and to win. And, we actually not only survived those unspeakably traumatic and excruciating ordeals, but we even have some fond memories from them. We've lived. We've fought hard and still lost, and we picked ourselves up, learned from it and laughed about it. Other times we fought hard and won. If it was close, we came through it, win or lose, with a little more admiration for the other guy. These are invaluable, even essential life experiences that, sadly, many people don't have any more.
So, what happens to those people? They have to learn those same lessons later in life, in a more unforgiving world where the stakes are higher. Gentlemen, let them win. Let them lose. Let them live. Be a Daddy and help them along the way. Let them see how you deal with life. Go through it together. Thank you, Uncle Robin.