Rhona Canoy SO… With all this whirling debate regarding Duterte’s mental state, people have become “informed” about psychopaths and sociopaths. Having been a school administrator for more than 20 years, trust me when I say that this is nothing compared to the insanity called present-day parenthood. There was a mother in my school whose child got a scratch while playing with his classmates. Let me tell you that I was unprepared for the wrath and the convoluted logic exhibited to come to the unnecessary defense of her son. She claimed that her child was being bullied, which resulted in the aforementioned scratch. After accosting and harassing the “suspect” and his parent, there followed a string of actions and accusations (some of which involved lawyers, doctors, and the Department of Education) which still leaves me in breathless wonder. An argument she sadly lost. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised since this same mother had already stormed the school previously, demanding that we justify why her son wasn’t an honor student. Another argument she sadly lost. She has since moved on to another school, which institution I sincerely wish all the best. As hyperactive a child, I remember I would come home from school with assorted injuries which led to me being chastised for my irresponsible behavior. Sprained ankles and wrists, cuts and bruises, skinned knees and elbows, and even a black eye at one time. Not all at once, of course, but this is my list of war injuries. I dreaded the stinging “hapdos” of tincture of iodine more than the boo-boos. My beleaguered mom got more than her fair share of letters from my teachers about my stellar behavior both inside and outside the classroom. But I cannot ever recall her rushing to school to confront them in defense of my… in defense of my… in defense of my anything, really. I always knew that I would be held accountable for whatever I did (an invaluable life lesson), and that in my home I was “presumed totally guilty of everything until proven innocent.” Children will get into scrapes. They will fight with their schoolmates. They will get boo-boos. They will forget passing homework. When did parenthood become an unreasonable state of mind whose sole purpose is to protect the child from EVERYTHING? No, I do not espouse or make light of bullying in my school. That is a dynamic which serves no purpose but to oppress. Sadly, children learn from the masters. They are bullied at home in the name of “discipline”. They also watch their parents bully anyone in the name of “fighting for the rights of their children”. They bully teachers if their child doesn’t make the honors list. They bully school administrators to get what they want. They bully other parents and this is when it becomes a prize fight. And then we wonder where these children acquired their sense of entitlement. Didn’t we give it to them? Didn’t we show them that they can get anything they want through aggression? Where is the sanity in that? We need a world that understands that life isn’t about fairness. Life is about knowing and doing what is right. Life is about standing up in the face of wrong. Life is about knowing that we can make choices, but also that this means we have to be accountable for those choices. Life is about knowing that sometimes we are to blame, but also that we are to be affirmed. Life is about knowing how to sincerely be sorry for our mistakes (Erich Segal notwithstanding). Life is not about winning, but rather about succeeding. Most of all, life is about knowing that we have to do our part to make everything better. That is what parents need to understand. That is what we need to teach our children, who learn best by example. I read somewhere that as parents, it is not our job to teach our children how to survive in a cruel and heartless world. It is our job to teach them to make the world less cruel and heartless. Dwell on that.