Passion Power

In Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Coddling of the American Mind, he writes how good intentions and bad ideas are ruining a generation of kids. He said that safetyism, trigger warnings and safe spaces are counter-productive and that stressors are a part of life. We must prepare the child for the road not the road for the child.  Over protection equals bad consequences. We must give kids the freedom to develop their anti-fragility and when we don’t challenge ourselves physically and mentally, we deteriorate.   When children are raised in a culture of safetyism, which teaches them to stay “emotionally safe” while protecting them from every imaginable danger, it may set up a feedback loop: kids become more fragile and less resilient, which signals to adults that they need more protection, which then makes them even more fragile and less resilient. My sister-in-law has parents that come in with their teenager for a job interview. Last week, a school principal sent home a letter wa...

In May of 2012 a man drove out of a campground after spending the weekend with his 17-year-old twin daughters and the family dog.   Instead of turning left to head back into the city, he turned right and drove at high speed straight into a cement truck killing all of them on impact.   I cried every day for a month.   The news of the tragedy went on for weeks.   Who could do this to their own kids and why? It came out that his ex-wife had a restraining order against him.   He also had an alcohol problem. Think of the anger that was festering in him. The wrath he must have felt toward his ex raged in his heart until one day he just snapped. So many lives forever changed.   So many questions as to how this could have been prevented. Didn’t someone see his spiralling downward and try to help? Where was his support?   I have the same questions about the school shooter in Uvalde Texas in the US. Didn’t anyone see the warning signs and try to reach out. The s...