thought of the day 2009 06 20 - rites of passage

I was watching Indiana Jones this weekend. Temple of Doom, not the new one where Indy get's fucking raped harder than the Star Wars saga in Phantom Menace...wow, I'm an angry fucking nerd. Okay that's beside the point. So I'm watching Indiana Jones and I realize that a lot of these older, ancient cultures have these rites of passage. Like tests for manhood and shit. Aborigines in Australia have to go on walkabout and shit like that. But we don't really have many rites of passage today. I mean you have stuff like graduating from high school but that's not really a rite of passage. I mean I see the qualify of a high school education now, the lot of them are nimrods. That's not a rite of passage, that's the passage of time, all you accomplished was aging, you didn't fucking learn anything, you're teachers just passed you because they don't want to have to put up with your retarded ass again next year. That diploma doesn't prove you learned anything, it's a certificate congratulating you on not dying and potentially causing a huge lawsuit for the school.

What we need is a new rite of passage for modern times. Something that will test your manhood and challenge you physically and mentally. To make sure you're ready for the world. And I think I might do this with my own kid. figure when he's like 12 or so. Just to see, you know? Like, I want my kid to be able to handle his own shit out there in the world. So what I figure is this, one day, when I think he's old enough I sit him down and say, "son, you're old enough now, I want to give you a piece of advice that I wish my father had given me. If a stranger offers you candy, you get in that car with him. Hop in, go with him" And I figure if I see him again, he's now a man, if not, well, mother nature is a cruel, cruel teacher.