I have been postponing my comments on the latest stunt pulled by Miley Cyrus out of decency.  However, I do have some opinions as to what needs to be done about her and an entire parade of young people who are influencing the youth of our nation.

At what point did Miley transform from Hanna Montana (wholesome child idol) to Rhonda Roadhoe (unwholesome twenty yr old slut)?  It must have been something she ate or maybe it was a genetic thing.  From past performances by her parents (Billy Ray) we can tell that the apple didnt fall far from the tree.  Is the way to resurrect a flagging career the performance of something ridiculous?  apparently so.

Justin Bieber is another one of the same ilk.  What this boy needs is someone to take him out behind the wood shed and introduce him to the pine board of good behavior.  His mother seems to care but claims there is not much she can do.  She may be right. She will eventually get to visit him in prison and maybe the warden will have some suggestions.

It has been brought to my attention that the rules for raising children have changed somewhat since the days of me being a child.  It seems that the sage advice of a grandparent or other older relative is no longer either wanted or needed by those who are in direct charge of raising our youth.  A kindly suggestion from a grandparent can be deemed as being nosey or butting in to business not theirs.  In my formative years a suggestion by my grandfather would have had the same weight as the 10 things carved on the stone tablet and given to Moses as law of the land.  I would have directly changed my behavior to adapt to the suggestion.

The parents of many of the young people who flood our media with their antics claim that once a child reaches a certain age there isnt much a parent can do.  That is probably true if you missed the opportunity, during their formative years, to instill either respect for their elders or fear of those same people.  I am not sure which I instilled in my children, I would hope respect but will accept fear if need be, but I think that if I strongly suggested that they change their behavior some thought would be given to the to the ramifications of what would happen if they didnt.  Coming to Thanksgiving dinner and finding that your plate had been ceremoniously broken for some transgression is a powerful reminder of who brought you in to the world.  No one wants to eat out on the patio off a paper plate because you didnt mind your parent.  I dont care how old you are.

Miley didnt invent twerking.  It is a dance move popularized by belly dancers in the middle ages during the Byzantine times.  It has been adopted to the modern pole dancers joints and will undoubtedly be used for years to come.  It is a dance move used to illicit money from the audience.  She has used it for a similar reason except it was to arouse a flagging career, thus raising money.

Why do I care about what Miley does?  I dont.  I think it influences my granddaughter.  She and I had a conversation about Justin recently during her visit and she indicated that she was turned off by his behaviour.  That is good but she was still aware of his actions and the harm has seeped in.  I dont expect her to ever twerk but she has seen how it is done and it has been given a name that suddenly is appearing in the media every 30 seconds so the harm it can do is present in her mind as well as the mind of all our youth.  We can’t keep them in the closet until they grow up but it is getting harder to raise one without the help of the entire community and sometimes the community is a slum.

GARY