I Am From The Old School

Life today can be so confusing, up is down, down is up, right is wrong, and what was wrong now is right. No wonder the youth of today seem lost, it is enough to give the best of us a headache. Proudly I can proclaim that I am from the old school. By that, I am talking about a time and place where there were absolutes, and people unashamedly stood for what was right. Where I came from people were proud of their families, their community, and especially their country, and would never apologize for taking a stand for either.

In the world I grew up in there was a clear difference between right and wrong, and we all knew where that line was. We never wondered what the penalty for misbehaving was, that was clear before the transgression was ever committed. At school, it meant a trip to the principals’ office, at home, it may have been the woodshed, or around my house wherever the dirty deed was committed, it never mattered. Even at church, you knew that your parents would have no hesitation about yanking you up by the arm, taking you outside and tanning your hide. Speaking of acting up at church, it was never considered out of place that if the young people got to talking, the Pastor would call us down right from the pulpit. Afterwards that also meant a good conversation at home and then having to sit beside ones parents for several weeks afterward.

Being from the old school, I must say that I had some good teachers. There were my parents of course, and grandparents who taught me what it meant to protect your family name and there really is a difference between right and wrong. They also taught me that the area we like to think of as gray causes many problems. Pastors and Sunday school teachers as well as my family did a pretty good job of showing me the way to the Savior, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Schoolteachers in that old brick schoolhouse were not afraid to show us the difference between right and wrong, even if it required a little extra education by the “board of education”. Even law enforcement was more concerned with showing you the right way rather than putting you in the county jail. To this day, I will never forget a long talking to I received from Sheriff Stewart late one night on the side of the road.

If being old school means that most everything I see is in black and white, then I must ask is that really a bad thing. Look around you, too many today are afraid to stand up for what is right because they fear ridicule. When did it become a bad thing to believe in right and wrong? From the highest elected office, to the schoolhouse, nobody wants to take a stand for fear of offending someone. There was a time when citizens in this country would have taken to the streets to defend the honor of someone for telling the truth. Today we slip safely behind our own doors, for fear of being labeled a radical. When did the truth become radical, or better yet is there one of the Ten Commandments that would hurt you if you obeyed them?

Many today might call me a relic, a dinosaur or maybe even out of step with reality, but reality is what we make it, and I am ready to step back to a much simpler place. Once again, I want to live in a world where a man’s word means something and it does not matter who challenges him. We have all heard the phrase, “the truth will stand when the world’s on fire”. If you have watched any newscast lately, the world is just about on fire. So call me a relic if you must, I think I am probably in good company, and I believe we could all use a little more honesty, and a little more old school way of thinking.

When will we realize that new and improved are not always better? The old school ways of honesty, integrity, faithfulness, commitments, and patriotism, to name a few, are not relics they are traits we should all aspire to exhibit. Maybe if we would all go back to the old school ways we would see a difference in our families, neighborhoods, and even our country. Old school is standing for tradition, no matter what popular opinion may be, and being willing to defend what is right no matter the cost. Who like me is proud to stand and say, I am from the old school, and for all of those who like to put down our country, I will leave you with the words from that old Merle Haggard tune; “If you’re running down our country hoss, you’re walking on the fighting side of me.”