ROPES' CORNER

Okay, we've pretty well concluded by now that America's value system is badly skewed. We've devoted most or all of several editorials to the subject. And we've stated that a big reason for this is the fragmentation of the family unit. Even children who are lucky enough to live in two-parent homes hardly ever get to spend any quality time with their folks. Mom and Dad are both working full time to pay for all the toys they've bought, for their kids and for themselves. Little Johnny and Little Mary (or Jeremiah and Abigail, or whatever) learn several things from all this. Among these lessons:

1. Don't ever depend on an adult to be there when you really need them;
2. You're on your own in this world, pretty much from the time you learn to walk;
3. Things are more important to your quality of life than people are;
4. Mom and Dad work so many hours they don't have time to enjoy the things they've acquired;
5. There has to be a better way!

These kids aren't stupid. They're savvy, street-wise and observant. They seek out people who have found that "better way," and they don't have to look far to find them. This digital age we're living in gives them instant access to an entire world apart from anything in their experience; the wonderful world of entertainment. And there they find people who earn $20 million to make a single movie, and others who make more than $10 million a year to throw or hit a baseball. (Yes, we're including athletes under the heading of entertainers. What else would you call them?) Every kid in America can act. If you're a parent, you know that's true. Many of them also excel at some sport. Some can do both. So they consider their options. Do they want to follow in Dad's footsteps, and peak out at fifty thousand a year, with two weeks vacation, a lousy pension plan, and stress-related illnesses? Or would they rather emulate the guy who pulls down one hundred times that much, works nine months a year, and has a .280 lifetime batting average? Hmmmmm.

As if the financial aspect weren't enough to convince them, there's another little "perk" that goes with a life of fame and glamor; the rules don't apply to you. Sure, Mom and Dad partake of some "recreational drugs" once in a while; they think the kids don't know about it, but they're wrong. But the vast majority of them keep it under tight control. Not only is it expensive, it's risky. Exposure could cost them their careers (and their means to buy more toys), and might possibly lead to some real jail time. But we all know the story about the retired NFL linebacker who's had enough coke up his schnozzola to plug the hole in the Titanic, and he was just enshrined in the Hall of Fame!

Dad went to college for four years and spent ten more years paying off his student loans, just to qualify for his fifty-grand-per-annum job. A good football player gets a free ride through college, hardly ever attending a class, and quits in his third year to enter the NFL draft. He'll be arrested several times while he's a student; for possession, shoplifting, and soliciting sex. He'll actually have to pay someone to perform his community service for him! But by the time he's ready to quit the NFL, he'll have earned enough so that he'll never have to work another day in his life. Which choice is more attractive? Hmmmmm again.

Mom goes on an occasional business trip. She schlepps her suitcase and laptop around for a few days, stays in a second-rate hotel, and returns home cranky and exhausted. The actor is making a movie. He'll work for two months and earn the equivalent of Mom's income for the next four hundred years! While he's on location, his contract includes accommodations in a four-star hotel. He gets a tad rambunctious one night and does a little damage to his room; something on the order of twenty or thirty thousand dollars worth. The hotel management graciously accepts payment from the studio, and won't hesitate for a moment to welcome the star back the next time he's in town.