Patriot Realm

It was nearly three years ago that I first saw how teenagers can change in what is a blink of an eye.  Covid was still in its infancy but growing up fast. It was 2020.

I would like to blame the change I witnessed on lockdowns and school closures, but I cannot. It was too early for it to have shown any major impact upon the young people concerned. With hindsight, I believe it was a teacher with profoundly disturbing views who had somehow managed to indoctinrate, not educate.  :society had had an earthquake and had disrupted the order of the soul as Leonard Cohen used to sing. .

As I think back on that morning in what seems a life time ago, I cannot help but reflect on how times have changed. When, in the blinking of said eye, we went from being families united to families divided.

So here it is. The day the music changed, the Future became frightening to consider and life, as we knew and loved, disappeared seemingly forever.

The Day I realised that the Devil had ridden in and was not going to give up without a fight.

It had been a long awaited family get together back then, in 2020, with one of my daughters and her family. I haven't seen them for about 18 months and I didn't realise what a difference that time would make. My two grand daughters had been abducted by aliens and hade turned into the spawn of the devil.

The gathering was held at Redhead's home, which many of my long term readers will know is close to one of the bushfires that swept through our country in the latter part of 2019 and early 2020. It was the first time that they had visited since that dreadful event and it went from eagerly anticipated to a train wreck in about 1 hour. They must have driven through the burned out bush and fire ravaged homes in order to reach Rehead's once threatened home of so many decades.

Four years ago, I met with a quiet book loving polite and pretty young 13 year old girl ; a feisty little 11 year old who loved playing sports and running at high speed and generally bursting with the love of life. My grandson, was quiet ; my daughter was laughing and chatty, eager to embrace the chance to meet with her Grandma ( Redhead ) and her Mum - yours truly.

The 16 year old lad was still much the same - he had brought his male cousin with him for moral support and my son in law had " cried off " the visit and stayed behind to have some peace and quiet.

But my two grand daughters had turned in to leftie green Trump hating marxists and I could not have been more ashamed, horrified and appalled. 

Not because of their Politics, but the way that they shrieked, waved their arms, spouted activist catch phrases and sneered and laughed when they said something provocative and insulting. It was as though they were determined to have an argument.

To be fair, the younger lass , who was then 12, was more restrained in her statements but it was very much the case that she was the head of the cheer leading squad for her then 14 year old sister.

The two boys sat back, carefully in the background while these two young brats were let loose to harangue and ridicule their (then ) 88 year old Great Grandmother and me, their (then ) 65 year old grandmother.

What on earth have they done to the young girls today? What poison have they put in to their minds? I thought to myself.

It was not as if they were unaware that Redhead and I were, and are, Trump supporters, anti daughter slaughter, late term abortion, anti communism and anti discrimination based on sex, colour or ethnic origin. Yet, here they were, the older girl in particular, saying that Trump trafficked young girls, was a pedophile and that only black lives matter because they have been abused by white people. 

Then the REAL " fun " began. The mantra of hatred. 

Now, I love and enjoy a good debate, but a debate is where a well thought out, well argued point of view is put forward in defence of an opinion, and then the other party has a right to respond and offer the opposing point of view.

Not so with these two young aliens. Oh no. The responses were not spontaneous. They were catch phrases that sprung from their mouths, much the same way as the times table sprang from mine when I was a child. The 14 year old girl said that she was a lesbian. She said that Australia should burn and that she would " gladly light the first match. " 

Well, when you torch a Nation you are hardly being Green or an animal lover.

I asked her how she could say that when she knew that her own Great Grandmother came close to losing her home when a 14 year old green activist had lit the fire that threatened the very house that she was currently sitting in. She said " if that is what it takes, that is what it takes. " 

She said so many things that I cannot say here, because this would end up being as long as War and Peace and, suffice to say, I was sitting back, watching this young woman and thinking ": what hope do we have? " In 18 months, this lovely, kind, gentle and decent young lady had turned into a stranger and one who I never wished to see again.

I left poor Redhead to deal with the waspish vipers that now occupied my grand daughters and I turned my attention to the two young 16 year old boys. We chatted about history and dating and the dangers of allowing Hong Kong to fall. The propsect of a future Tiananmen Square. We talked about how standing up to injustice is so vital. When I asked them " how you put up with those girls? " they quietly replied.

" We just try to stay out of it. " 

We talked about history repeating itself; malicious complaints by females against men who can no longer defend themselves against accusations of rape or assault; ( all the while with the 12 year old in the background, who had by now, decided to sabotage our rational and interesting conversation, started chanting " Treat women with respect! ) and I looked at these two young men and wondered 

" What the hell have we done? "

There were so many issues at play in this abortive family get together.

Firstly, the DISRESPECT that was shown toward their host, their Great Grandmother, in HER home. 

Secondly, their bullying and use of shock phraseology to silence her, me and anyone who DARED to disagree. 

Thirdly, their IGNORANCE.

My grand daughter was horrified that the " Capitalists" ( her word, not mine )  who think that they run Australia have dared to consider banning tik tok. I tried to explain that the app was gathering all of her personal information and that could surely be an invasion of her privacy but all she could say was

" Tik Tok is the voice of our generation! They are trying to silence our Voice! "

Sound familiar?

All the while, my daughter said nothing, the husband stayed home and the two lads sat quietly in the background.

Redhead and I were polite but decided that the 2 miscreants were no longer welcome.

After all, if they hated us so much, why should we welcome them into our homes?

Since then,  the youngest daughter is crippled with an undiagnosed mental and physical disorder. The eldest has, I am told, changed her name and is now a masculine characiture of her former lovely gentle self. .The marriage has broken up and the eldest boy has left home and ( thankfully ) happy. The mother is not in a good place. The family home has had to be sold and friendships have been lost and show little sign of a happy retrieval.

From a young lady who read Anne of Green Gables, smiled and helped decorate the family trifle or pavlova, my granddaughter disappeared into a foreign world of political activism and sexual confusion. Her younger sister is a pink haired crippled invalid devoid of the joy of life. They mock people of Faith and seem to derive pleasure from cruel words and actions.

I cannot blame Covid or the lockdowns, because this started too long ago. 

However, I cast my mind back to my wonderful teacher and mentor who exemplified deceny, honesty and integrity. A man who taught Critical Thinking and the value of a well reasoned debate, a sound connection with community values and personal values and I wonder:

Who was the fiend who did this to my granddaughters and why did her parents allow it to happen?

Whoever it was, teacher or other, he or she sure had friends in LOW places.