Michael J. Bowler

The Writings of Michael J. Bowler

Evil Begins With Hate

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no HateToday’s posting is a bit of a rant, but Sir Lance says it’s a legitimate rant, especially with everything going on in Russia with the upcoming Olympics and the country’s new law forbidding people to be gay. So here’s Sir Lance’s thought for the day: every so often random photos pop up on Facebook, very innocuous and usually romantic shots of two boys kissing. Maybe they’re at home, on a park bench, or leaving the prom. They’re just random boys kissing each other. Every time I see these kinds of photos, they are accompanied by some of the most horrendous, vicious, poisonous vitriol I’ve ever seen on FB, the kind of vitriol that inspires laws like they have in Russia. These comments attack the two boys as though one was Hitler and the other Stalin! Are these boys eviscerating children? Are they committing mass murder? Are they plotting some huge act of terrorism? No. They’re kissing. Why are they kissing? Probably because they love each other. Why do they love each other? Their brains are wired that way, because they were born to love others of the same gender. Wow! What a heinous crime, right? Worthy of hate, right? Obviously some people think so! We have enormous problems facing this country and this world and two boys kissing is what gets people fired up? Those people need a life.

Well, here’s a message to the haters out there, and any of you reading this may feel free to share it with haters you know personally: If all of you males out there hating on gay boys are so sure they simply woke up one day and decided to be attracted to other boys, I challenge you to try it yourselves. Do your homework. Show the world that same sex attraction is simply a choice by eschewing all attraction to females and turning all of your drives toward males. Let us know how that works out for you, huh? Oh, and while you’re at it, let us know how you enjoy being hated on by people like yourselves, how much you like being bullied and called names and mocked and ostracized. Give us FB users a full account of how “deciding to be gay” works. It should be quite instructive.

Since I know none of you will do this (because it can’t be done), then may I humbly suggest you get your hate off the Internet and get yourselves a real life. Obviously, your own relationships must be so bad that you can’t stand seeing two boys happy together. Too bad. Get over it. Get out into your community and do some volunteer work. Actually get to know people other than yourselves and maybe you won’t be so ignorant. And if you can’t do this, maybe the U.S. should start its own version of “Battle Royale” and throw all the haters into a big arena so you can wipe each other out. Sounds brutal, but then, you all should relish the violence since you already enjoy spewing so much of it with your words, and often your physical actions, when you bully and beat up boys who love boys. It seems to me that eliminating evil from the world could only be a good thing. After all, evil always begins with hate.

As for you so-called religious haters out there – bear in mind Jesus’ number one commandment: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Also bear in mind that he only condemned one group of people as a “brood of vipers,” and that was the Pharisees. Why? Because they were hypocrites, just like you. You claim to follow Christ, who did not condemn people and did not address the issue of same-sex love, but who did decry fornication among heterosexual couples, i.e. “hooking up” (I’m sure none of you good Christians have had multiple sex partners in your lives, right?), and yet you do exactly what he never did – you condemn. That makes you hypocrites, a brood of vipers. So don’t start taking lines from the Bible out of context to feed your own personal bigotries – that’s the last refuge of haters. And please note the line from the previous paragraph, because it applies to you, too: evil always begins with hate.

I don’t know who any of these kissing boys are. I don’t even know if any of them are still together. The part of me that loves seeing happy people hopes that they are. But them being happy and, yes, EVEN KISSING, doesn’t hurt me or you or the world. In fact, as a rule, happy people make the world a much better place. And this world has MUCH bigger problems than two boys in love. So does this country, and so does your own community. So turn off your hate meters and get out there to contribute something positive to your community. Make this world better for your having passed through it, rather than doing what you’re doing now – making it worse.

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King Arthur’s Camelot and Its Relevance to 21st Century America

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The story of King Arthur and his Round Table of knights has great relevance to modern America in the 21st Century, especially within the context of my new novel, Children of the Knight.

First of all, the Britain of Arthur’s time was a fractured, divisive land with disparate groups of peoples like the Gauls, the Gales, the Normans and others vying for power and prestige.  In America today, many in the public sector make their livelihood and base their political survival on pitting this group against that group or this race against that one and they never allow for real unity because with unity might come an end to said public person’s career and funding base. The media is even worse, always stirring the pot, often by dispensing inaccurate or incomplete information in the hopes of generating controversy. In simpler terms, divisiveness is profitable.

When Arthur became High King of Britain his first order of business was to unite all the distinct groups warring against him and each other, which he eventually did through numerous costly battles. However, once done, he had to keep the peace, so as he tells young Lance in Children of the Knight, “I gave them all a purpose in life other than hating one another.” He brings that same purpose to the warring gangs and unrelated street kids he recruits as his new Round Table in the newly released novel.

America of today has systematically failed her children in every area of life, from education to criminal justice to media influences. The one-size-must-fit-all-or-you-can-get-out approach to modern public education is disgusting and antithetical to human nature. Since we can never all be the same, what happens to those kids who just don’t “fit” that one size? They drop out, join gangs or crews, do drugs, make babies they can’t take care of, and engage in all manner of anti-social behaviors they have learned from adults. And what about the war adults have waged against gay youth with their preposterous notion that these kids willingly made a choice to love someone of the same gender and thus willingly chose the hate, mockery, bullying, and marginalization that go with being gay in America today? Let’s face it, there are a lot of stupid, selfish people in this country, and kids are paying the price.

In my book, Arthur returns from Avalon and finds all of this discarded and wasted “might” at his disposal, kids no one else wants, most of them boys with a lot of potential energy within them for good or ill. There are a lot of homegirls on the streets, as well, but most gangs are male-dominated because of the sense of empowerment these usually poor, ethnic, marginalized kids desperately seek. Before Arthur, all the combined might of these gangs and street youth has been directed toward the detriment of society because that’s all they’ve been taught by the adult world that raised them. They make war on each other and on the innocent. But Arthur comes along and teaches them discipline through mastery of swordplay and archery, and he convinces them, as he convinced the various factions all those centuries ago in Britain, to put aside their own petty rivalries and use their collected might for right in order to finally gain the power they had previously sought through violence and mayhem.

Arthur’s objective is to win the approval and support of the voting public and use that support to take on the feckless, self-absorbed politicians who run Los Angeles. From LA the crusade will then move on to all of California and then to the country as a whole. Its ultimate goal: restoration of the right of children to be children, and human beings, and not the mere property of adults. Will he succeed? You have to read the book to find out.

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Oh, and why did Arthur come to America rather than Britain? Since his purpose is to save childhood it is also, by extension, to save this most promising child of Britain from itself. After all, a country that fails its children is ultimately doomed to assume a well-earned place on the scrap heap of history.

Is the Code of Chivalry Relevant in the 21st Century?

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In Children of the Knight, King Arthur returns from Avalon to 21st Century Los Angeles to start a new crusade of lost and discarded children against the adult society that has abused, neglected, and marginalized them. He recruits the homeless, the unwanted, the rejected, and the gang affiliated. Among the many lessons he teaches and models for them, none are more important than the tenets of chivalry, once thought to be a very civilized and civilizing code. In our uncouth and very uncivilized America today, could such a code still have relevance? Sir Lance says it can, so let’s examine a few major tenets and find out.

In no particular order, one tenet is “To fear God and maintain His commands.” I know, in America today the “G” word is forbidden in public discourse lest some atheist be offended. Not so in the old days. In fact, the majority of Americans still believe in God and attend some kind of worship service on a consistent basis, so most don’t actually fear the “G” word––it’s only the media that does. Whether we admit it or not, believing in something greater than ourselves helps keep our own human ego in check. Also, all of our laws to some extent are tendrils branching off from those Ten Commandments atheists hate so much. Isn’t disdaining murder a good thing? What about bearing false witness against someone else and sending that person to prison as a result? Both crimes happen every day, especially the second because, according to the enlightened people, those old commandments are outdated and we don’t need to follow them anymore. Really? Arthur doesn’t think so and, while he doesn’t force any of his charges to pray, he himself does and the kids see in him a healthy respect for a power higher than themselves.

“To protect the weak and defenseless.” The lost children of today, especially the gang members, know from their own experiences growing up that the adult society does not support this particular tenet; in fact, adults often do the exact opposite, and most of the kids in this story were hurt or abused or neglected by adults their whole lives. Gang members often punk the defenseless and the weak and take pride in doing so. Why? Because they were taught these behaviors by the grownup world, including our elected officials who gleefully take vicious aim at this person or that group in order to score some polling points. What about the prevalent bullying of gay kids today? Why do some kids bully others, especially the gay ones? Because they have been taught to do so. Arthur makes it a fundamental requirement of his new Round Table that his knights will always aid and assist those in need. How terrible would it be if everyone adopted that philosophy?

“To refrain from the excessive giving of offense.” In today’s society, what with Facebook and Twitter and every other social media site, offending others has become a cottage industry. It seems people today go out of their way to be offensive, to hurt others and attempt to knock them down, marginalize them, make them feel less than human. If kids today were taught to refrain from such behavior as the Code suggests, wouldn’t this be a better country? ’Nuff said.

How about this one––“To fight for the welfare of all.” Arthur discovers that in America of the 21st Century kids are taught the “It’s all about me” philosophy because that’s how adults, including many parents, want to live their lives. If everyone is out to serve only himself or herself, does anything in society ever improve? Of course not! Hence, Arthur teaches and models this tenet of the Code. If each of us thinks more about the welfare of others ahead of our own wants in life, everyone would be covered because we’d be looked after, too. This isn’t socialism or any tyrannical left-wing idea––it’s simply common sense, and helps ensure a more cohesive and civil society because we’d know we could count on each other, and that all adults had the best interests of children at heart.

Here’s another “outdated” tenet of chivalry: “To avoid unfairness, meanness, and deceit.” Gee, that’s a pretty radical idea, isn’t it? Oh, yeah, but those egalitarian-types would argue, “What’s your definition of meanness or deceit?” I think most of us regular Americans who have even a smidgen of common sense know the answer to that question. Arthur seems to feel this tenet is crucial to his campaign in America and models it each and every day. Thus, he respects every kid and culture and sexual orientation. He passes no judgments on these kids, but merely accepts them as they come to him and strives to help them become better. He does not allow for name-calling or bullying or disrespect amongst his knights. Now if only the public school system in American could adopt this ideal! Ah well, one can dream.

Another absolutely outrageous tenet of chivalry that would doom virtually every politician in America is, “At all times speak the truth.” Wow. What a different country we’d live in if the politicians who wanted to take every dime we earn and use it for their own pet projects actually said that during a campaign? Or those who might want to overturn the 2nd Amendment; or those who want America to pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist and close its borders for good. And what if parents actually told their kids the truth, and kids did likewise? Would the country be so awful if truth was as highly valued as it is in the Code? As a former president once said, depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is, I suppose.

Another very outdated tenet, and one directed squarely at males, is “To respect the honor of women.” The whole movement in America today to make kids believe there is no essential difference between male and female has created a host of problems, from girls trying to act masculine and boys acting feminine, to a general attitude among boys that girls are not special, but merely “boys” with different equipment. Men today not only don’t hold a door open for a lady, but often slam it in her face. And women today, in their understandable quest to be taken seriously as equals, don’t seem to notice what has been lost. Chivalry isn’t chauvinism, but rather a healthy respect for the uber-significant role women play in any society. Men, by their nature, tend toward the uncivilized, and they need women to help them in this regard to become better and more productive, rather than destructive. But if there is “no difference” between the genders, as is being taught to kids today, what ultimate damage to civilization will we have wrought? In Children of the Knight, most of the discarded youth and gang members are male, and Arthur teaches them straight off to address any female, especially adult females, with respect. How terrible is that?

The final tenet of note is perhaps the most radical of all: “To finish any venture you have begun.” Again, another brain-twister and completely outdated for our hip, modern, social networking society, right? Most of the kids in Arthur’s Round Table have dropped out of school. Admittedly, schools in America make no effort to address the individual needs and future goals of students, so many of those kids understandably feel it’s a waste of their time to attend. However, under Arthur they come to realize that finishing any venture, even one they may deem of little value, is important because of the life-long habit such completion instills.

Too often today kids quit on something they began because they see adults doing the same. I taught high school for twenty-five years and this particular tenet was at the top of my list, especially with the at-risk youth I taught. Even my writing of Children of the Knight has inspired a number of them to follow through on their dreams or some goal others have told them isn’t “practical,” and thus they may now complete something they began but were tempted to let languish. I told them I began writing this story probably fifteen years ago, but work and other obligations got in the way of finishing it. Now I have completed it and feel good for having done so. Finishing what we start––assuming what we have started is a good thing––is necessary to the success of every generation, and Arthur recognizes this need straight away and works to instill it.

Is the old-school Code of Chivalry outdated and useless to kids of the 21st Century? Or can they learn something yet from that centuries-old set of beliefs? Arthur believes they can, and Sir Lance says to check out the result of his efforts in Children of the Knight. Then judge for yourself.

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Why Education in America is Failing Our Kids

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In Children of the Knight, King Arthur comes to America from Avalon to launch a children’s crusade against an adult society that has neglected and marginalized its youth. No greater example of failure is evident than our public school system as a whole. Are there some good public schools out there? Of course there are! Is the system failing to do justice to the youth of this country? Absolutely.

When I was in school, I was not only taught how to think and critically evaluate material, I was given choices, too, choices that fit me and my own individuality. Today, public education is cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all and seemingly designed to turn everyone into mindless clones of each other, apparently to serve some authoritarian power since schools are controlled and directed by politicians and bureaucrats.

Children and teens today are taught how to memorize facts, names and dates in order to pass tests. For the most part they aren’t asked or required to apply any of this information to the creation of something new, even an essay of evaluation. Rote busy work is the mainstay of public education, including the busy work called homework. Even in kindergarten today teachers are assigning really long homework packets weekly, and if the kid doesn’t finish the oh-so-important packet of busy work, he’s assigned another and must turn in both, or else! Kindergarten? You’ve gotta be kidding!

Even so-called AP classes in high school which are supposed to replicate and ultimately take the place of college courses, are rife with busy work and in no way replicate the college experience. As with all school courses, they exist for memorization, not innovation, passing tests, not creating something new. The idea that passing rote standardized tests will turn out the best possible adults in society is absurd! The only thing those tests prove is which ones have the best memory for routine information.

Since every single child is uniquely different, kids should be given opportunities to be who they already are rather than what the “system” or even their parents think they should be. Every child is gifted in some way and it should be the goal of the school system to draw out that gift, nurture it, and help the child perfect it. Not every kid should go to college and many wouldn’t even benefit from a bachelor’s degree. All they would acquire is massive debt that might trail them the rest of their lives. There are so many careers and niches kids can become a part of and make a good living so doing, if they were given proper guidance and choices, of course. But no, the “powers that be” insist on everyone going to college because it’s all part of the drone-like indoctrination government schools have been known for since their inception. Oh, and don’t forget the money these colleges rake in! The more useless classes college students are “required” to take, the more money is fed into the system as a whole. Oh, and of course, the college textbook industry is a complete monopoly, designed to rip off each and every student. And people say corporate America is greedy?

And don’t get me started on what’s the least important element in the minds of the adults running the school system, because that element is the kids. The teachers union is out for itself, the administrators for themselves, and the policy makers for themselves. All want to pat themselves on the back for their “service” to kids, and yet the group-think these bodies engage in is destructive and anathema to good education. For example, whose brilliant idea was it to teach first graders about sexual harassment, as is done in many schools today? The only way first graders can at even the most elemental level sexually harass someone is after they have been taught the behavior by adults. In the first grade! We’re talking about six year olds here! Creativity in schools is banned. Choices are banned. But sexualizing young children is acceptable because some adult has an agenda? Sick!

And don’t get me going on about the teacher’s union. Yes, if you’re a lazy or lousy teacher, the union will support you. If you’re a good teacher who stands up for the kids, you’re on your own. Case in point: as a special education teacher and case carrier it was always my job to advocate for the needs of the kids on my caseload. A former principal took it into his head to kick one of my special ed kids out of the school because he was a gang member in a wheelchair and the principal wanted to make an example out of him.

As per my job, I contacted Sacramento for advice and they sent a letter to the superintendent that my principal was in violation of the law and to return said student to campus. That got the principal into trouble so he took it out on me. One day during class several maintenance guys showed up with carts and began hauling all my stuff away. Per the principal’s orders, I was to be moved to a broom-closet-sized storage room with no windows and would from that day on teach my classes from this hot, dirty, airless room with no ventilation. Sounds pretty healthy for me and the kids, doesn’t it?

Did the teacher’s union step in to help me because I did my job properly? I think you already know the answer. But teachers with no classroom control or who show movies all the time or pass out worksheets or teach science from books and worksheets with no hands-on experiments, these teachers are good to go. The union doesn’t hesitate to step in if a principal wants to move them to another school or in any way demand they do their job better. Sadly, the union is out for itself, its political power, and the dues it extorts from teachers. It makes no demands upon said teachers that they have to do certain things (like actually teach) in order for the union to defend them. Tragic, but typical of the “It’s all about me” philosophy permeating our society today. And then these same adults complain that children are selfish and demanding. Gee, wonder where they learned those behaviors?

Schools also fare poorly when it comes to common sense. Brain research has clearly shown that languages are best learned when children are young, like in the first grade (but, oh, wait, that might interfere with their sexual harassment training) and NOT in high school when the language portions of the brain are more dormant. Likewise, math skills (other than basic ones) are best learned from the age of ten on because that’s when that portion of the human brain kicks into gear.

And what about freedom to choose your own path? Do kids in high school have a choice to go into a college-bound academic track or a more vocational/creative track that might lead to a career they’re actually interested in? No. They are all to be college bound because, dammit, we adults know better! No wonder the drop out rate at LA Unified is around fifty percent. The classes kids really want – the “so-called electives” – are the ones most often cut because it’s expedient for the adults to do so. Never mind that these so-called electives might be exactly what a particular kid needs to hone his or her skills in some area that he or she could continue to pursue after high school and that might actually lead to a career of choice. Hell no, kids, you have to get that bachelor’s degree because it makes us, the teachers and counselors, look like we’re doing our job! Do we ever consult the kids about what courses they might like to take, or whether they even want a standard bachelor’s degree? Obviously, the answer is no. The self-centered arrogance of adults running our government, and by extension, our government schools, at both a state and national level, is staggering in its totality.

Were I ever elected president (which I won’t be, so don’t worry, all you bureaucrats), the first sweeping change I’d make would be the elimination of the Department of Education. If ever a body was useless (and unconstitutional), it’s that one. Imagine, taking state money, funneling it through a bunch of unneeded paper pushers who create idiotic, untenable laws that purport to know the needs of every school in the country, and then returning that money to the states at something like ten or twenty cents on the dollar. Unbelievable! The next person who runs as “the education president,” vote for someone else!

These are but a few of the failures permeating our education system, and our youth, in this country. Arthur provides these disaffected kids with an alternative to standardized public education. Does it work? Read the book to find out.

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Have We Lost the Ability to Communicate?

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One of the main themes of my new novel, Children of the Knight, is the dearth of real human expression between people in this overly technological 21st Century. As a man from the distant past, King Arthur only knows how to communicate face-to-face, or through the use of human messengers. Despite his initial reticence about even using modern technology, Arthur soon finds himself slipping into the same trap as virtually everyone else in this era––use of texting to try and communicate feelings because that method is so quick and painless. In so doing, he tragically forgets that people need face-to-face interactions, and children, in particular, need personal affirmations of love and support. A text message just doesn’t cut it.

Are kids today too removed from real human feelings because they do all their talking through texting or Facebook? It’s easier to communicate in these ways because the other person can’t gauge your sincerity or honesty by looking into your eyes or even hearing the tone of your voice. So if you want to shine somebody on, technology provides the perfect resource. But surely sending someone you love a smiley face can’t hold a candle to actually holding that person’s hand and seeing the smile that basic human contact elicits, can it?

And what about the emotion within the human face and voice? Seriously, do all caps really tell you someone is shouting and indicate the tone of that shouting? OF COURSE NOT! Most of how we communicate is through language, but the tone of voice can take the same words and fill them with love or contempt. And what of body language and facial expression? What about looking someone right in the eye? If you get a text that says, “I love you more than life itself,” does that mean anything? If someone tells you that face to face and you’re looking right into his or her eyes when the words are spoken, are you more likely to gauge their sincerity correctly? Of course you are.

So much goes wrong for Arthur and his kids in this story because of miscommunication, not only missed text messages, but also because of the reticence of the characters to share their feelings with those they care about. The things we don’t say to each other in life are often the most important, and sometimes in the course of events the opportunity to say something important may only arise once and never again. Or situational circumstances can spiral out of control and there ends up being no time to say those words you wanted to say until it’s far too late.

The characters in Children of the Knight learn this lesson in some very harsh, unforgiving ways, and it’s likely been at times a painful reality for many of us, too. I think instant messages and texting are great for communicating insignificant information like what time you plan to meet someone at the gym. But saying “I love you” to somebody for the first time via text or message loses everything valuable those words convey, including the tone, the eye contact, the shy tilt of the mouth into a smile of endearment, everything that makes us human.

Likewise, arguing or insulting somebody via text or messaging is idiotic and counterproductive. When we have an issue with someone we need to confront that person and talk it out and reach a resolution, one that both parties can read on the other’s face and in the other’s eyes. We’re not machines yet, so shouldn’t we stop acting like them?

As Arthur tells Lance in Children of the Knight, “In this era you have found so many ways to communicate you have forgotten the most important-–face to face.” This sentiment should be taken to heart by all of us, and the resulting society will become far more . . . human.

 

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Does Our Modern Media Onslaught Teach Kids Bad Behaviors?

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In Children of the Knight, King Arthur, a man from medieval Britain transplanted to 21st Century Los Angeles, is appalled and fascinated by the television programs and music of modern America, and even more astonished to learn that most of it is aimed at children and teens.

He sees kids on TV using drugs in such a way that makes the activity look like a must-do for every viewer. He observes teens “hooking up” for causal sex, and others engaging in violent, often abusive behaviors. When he asks Lance about these “entertainments” and is told they’re mostly created for kids his age to watch, Arthur posits a question: “And if you or others your age engage in these behaviors, are you punished by thine elders or those in power?”

Lance suddenly realizes, as do Esteban and the other street kids later on, that all the anti-social behaviors modeled for them in music, movies and TV shows are exactly the same behaviors they get punished for on a regular basis, even though most of them grew up watching these kinds of shows and witnessing their older siblings (or even a parent) engaging in the same! The hypocrisy of a society that in every way possible teaches its young to be anti-social and self-absorbed and then punishes those youngsters for learning the lessons too well is staggering.

Hollywood and the music industry push the envelope further and further every year regardless of the damage they are doing to the children of this country. We’re a capitalist nation and I have no problem with companies making honest money. However, it would be really cool if these companies would exercise some restraint in the material they release, but restraint is sort of like self-discipline these days––a dirty word. The purveyors of this kind of material will always say it’s the parents’ job to shelter their kids from adult-oriented material, but that has become increasingly more difficult with newer and more efficient technology that make shielding kids virtually impossible, especially when the “adult-oriented” material is marketed straight at them!

Take the “F” word, for example. For kids today, that former obscenity is a noun, verb, or adjective depending upon how it’s used, and has become part and partial of daily conversation, among adults, too. This wasn’t a conscious decision on the part of society to expand the use of that word into every aspect of our lives because the country determined it would benefit everyone to do so. No, its use was incrementally increased over the years by Hollywood and the music industry until adults became so inured to hearing the word they don’t even blink anymore when their kids say it as a matter of course. Is this a good development for society and civilized behavior? Arthur doesn’t think so and he teaches his young knights civility and chivalry, two areas sorely lacking in America today. He recognizes that changing the overall behavior of these damaged children must begin with the small things, like use of language and how they address one another. Even calling each other “fool” is disdained by the king.

Can he successfully civilize these children that society has purposely made uncivilized and turn their collective might into something positive? Read Children of the Knight to find out.

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