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I recently happened upon a story in the Oregon news which, in my view, perfectly illustrates what we as a society are facing: the failure to use the word “no.”
First though, as a child, my widowed mother was faced with raising her four small children alone. It was no small chore, and despite being in pretty rough financial straits, she managed. Like most moms, she was amazing.
Mothers everywhere — actual mothers, not “birthing people” as some knotheads wanted to change to for so-called “inclusion” — need to be celebrated. It's a hard job.
As a rambunctious young boy, I wanted to be a cowboy. I rode the porch railing for hours, imagining my horse and I were herding cows, chasing and being chased by Indians, and other cowboy pursuits.
I was sure this was my destiny. One Sunday morning, I was out on the porch on my horse when mom told me to get ready for church. I told her no. I was a cowboy and couldn’t leave the cattle or some such. She again told me to go get ready. This went on for a few minutes as she explained I only imagined I was a cowboy while I argued otherwise. She finally decided she’d had enough, sternly telling me “no you’re not.” Being a cowboy at 6 or 7 years old was a harmless fantasy. I could have easily been a unicorn, tiger or turtle, too, but today, some fantasies are not as harmless.
Back to Oregon. A state mental health advisory board, a board that advises the Oregon Health Authority on best mental health practices, recently appointed J.D. Holt (who also goes by J.D. Terrapin) who identifies as a turtle and uses they/them pronouns.
This speaks volumes about those who made this appointment.
Somewhere along the way, this person who identifies as a turtle was let down by those around them. I don’t really understand all the gender verbiage and frankly don’t plan on trying, but I do know this: this person is not a turtle. How does anyone — let alone a serious government agency — appoint a person pretending to be a turtle expect to be taken seriously?
They/them need help, not encouragement. Telling the truth is not hate with people like this. It's simply a fact. Lying to them is not love, either. It's the opposite of love. Government pretending it’s normal only reaffirms the fact we don’t always put the brightest people in these positions, and that’s on us.
Sadly, several forms of this delusion are playing out all over the country along with demands we embrace it, celebrate it, accept it and punish those who don’t. Men pretending to be women. Men in women’s sports and women’s rooms. And even men in women’s prisons. It has become far too prevalent, with dangerous consequences. A recent (Biden) supreme court nominee couldn’t define a “woman.” Sadly, too many supposedly smart people can’t either, and too many others are afraid to.
Adults can live whatever delusion they want as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else; however, kids need to be protected from this nonsense, and the schools that insist on teaching children it’s normal while hiding it from parents must be addressed.
They/them, he/him, she/her, etc. are free to live their delusion, but they have no right to demand I buy it.
Neither should our government.
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Some time back (years ago), I wrote about the Real ID and my frustration that the only reason we need to do it is because we decided to give ID and licenses to anybody — including illegal aliens — without proper identification. So the rest of us have to re-identify ourselves and prove who we are again to travel. Now, years later, it's time to actually enforce this policy, and it seems like a surprise to department of licensing offices all around the country. They foolishly thought, I guess, that the foolish policy, so poorly thought out years ago, would never be implemented.
That was foolish.
So foolish policymakers, who failed to implement it when they had time to, foolishly think we’ll forget their foolishness and give them more money and time to implement it.
That sounds foolish to me.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
