Children are anti-establishment by nature. The good ones usually grow up gay, weird, or married to other good ones. And when I say good, I don’t mean high quality stock. Happy are the bad boys and girls, for theirs are the legends you hear all the time. Tell them Santa won’t give them presents at Christmas, and their street wisdom will laugh at your naivety.
Street wisdom is an underrated virtue. It’s the best form of defense and survival in an unpredictable world. I grew up a rebel, and my curiousity has led me to try anything remotely against the rules. Underaged smoking, sex, and gambling. I had my first cigarette at 14, had my first joyful experience of a marijuana high at the fabulous age of 16, and sex started at a ripe age of 17. Life was good, and there was nothing I could’ve wanted more back then. On the flipside, I also experienced my first police lock-up at 15. Heh heh.
But the crux of all these isn’t that I’m genetically pre-programmed to grow up a bad boy. Rather, I was genetically pre-disposed to breaking norms and conventions. A rebel and an anti-establishment hero. Curiousity is what makes children do things, learn things, and grow up fast. It is what childhood is all about.
Unfortunately, boys today are growing up to be girls. Mums fret over their sons getting hurt in sports, and sons shy away from a good after-school fight like the pussies they’ll grow up to be. And where’s the dad in this equation? He’s busy in the outside world discovering what he missed out as a child cos he was a good boy back then, but that’s another subject.
I never fail to laugh when society constantly campaigns against underaged smoking. No Sale Of Cigarettes To Minors is an open invitation to any self-respecting kid waiting to challenge the system. The implication of such a policy is that if one were to smoke, one is considered a Major. Which kid doesn’t want to be considered adult? Which self-loving child doesn’t want to stand out from his peers and be different?
Simply put, to curtail underaged smoking, one has to simply condone selling cigarettes to minors, and advertise it as a cool activity to engage in. With every kid in the neighbourhood or school smoking, the rebel will stop. It’s no longer cool since it is the norm and there are no rules to break; it’s in his nature. Suddenly it has become fashionable NOT to smoke.
Makes sense? Sure it does.
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