<p>I hate this old bit. It’s been circulating on the internet for years.</p>
<p>Let’s look at a few alternatives…</p>
<p>Scenario 2:
Johnny has been picking on effeminate Mark every day and beats him up on a regular basis.
1959 - Mark goes to his teachers for help but they all tell him to toughen up and start acting like a man. The abuse continues and junior year Mark is found hanging in his closet.
2009 - Mark goes to a teacher and the school’s anti-bullying curriculum swings into effect. Although Johnny and Mark never become close, they come to respect each other and when Mark later becomes a famous actor Johnny brags to his friends that he knew Mark in high school.</p>
<p>Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1959 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class where he’s too distracted to learn much. Jeffrey drops out in 10th grade to go to work at the gas station.</p>
<p>2009 - Jeffrey is tested for ADD and put on an appropriate dose of Ritalin. He becomes a calm, happy student who can finally do his work successfully. After college and graduate school Jeffrey returns to the classroom as one of the school’s most inspiring teachers.</p>
<p>Scenario 4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1959 - Billy learns to hate and fear his Dad. When he has his own children Billy beats them.
2009 - Billy’s dad sits him down for a talk. Billy agrees to apologize to the neighbor and work off the damage. Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman. He and his father remain close.</p>
<p>Scenario 5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1959 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock where they smoke a couple of Pall Mall unfiltereds. Both are dead of lung cancer within 20 years.
2009 - Mark goes to the school nurse who gives him a couple of Tylenols, knowing that aspirin can be dangerous to kids.</p>
<p>Scenario 6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1959 - Pedro drops out and goes to work in the fields. No one expects any different because, after all, his name is Pedro.
2009 - Pedro is tested for dyslexia, which it turns out he has. He’s put into a special reading program and catches up to his peer. He becomes a US senator.</p>
<p>Scenario 7:
Johnny wants to take apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, put them in a model airplane paint bottle and blow up a red ant bed.
1959 - Johnny blows his hand off.
2009 - An alert adult sees Johnny and tells the police, who confiscate the firecrackers and put him into a diversion program. Johnny gets involved in the school’s robotics competition and becomes a skilled surgeon specializing in work with amputees.</p>
<p>Scenario 8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary.
1959 - Mary hugs him to comfort him and send him in to see Father Flannigan, who gives him “special comfort”. Johnny reports the abuse but is whipped for telling lies about a man of God. Johnny becomes withdrawn and depressed and eventually repeats the cycle of abuse with the little boys in his neighborhood.</p>
<p>2009 - Mary sends him to the school nurse who patches him up and sends him out to play.</p>
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