Are we really THAT different?

I can't take credit for all of this post.  I have a buddy that I talk to all the time, everyday.  I bounce a lot of stuff off him and he has some interesting feedback.  I'm trying to get him to be a guest author, but I'm not sure if or when he will show up.

So let me begin by asking if we have any cheerleaders or moms of cheerleaders reading this?  If you are, please raise your hand.  Good.  If you have your hand up you might want to back away from this blog.  Just stop right here.  This can only piss you off.  I don't want any OMG's or WTF's (or a series of "like" this or "like" that-got to be the most over used and abused word) hurled at me.  So just stop now.  And you can put your hand down now.

Do you remember reading about or seeing a history channel show about the cultures that would sacrifice their Virgins to the gods?  When we went to Chichen Itza (the big pyramid on the Yucatan peninsula) , it reminded me of the people that would take the most beautiful girls to the top and sacrifice them to their god.  If I remember right, the families of these girls thought it an honor and privilege to be chosen to give their daughter for this purpose.  From the time these girls were very young they would be prepared, in hopes of being chosen.  

We as a people of "modern" society look back at these primitives and say to ourselves, "How could a culture do such a thing?".  I wonder what the people of a thousand years from now will say when the look at us and our rituals.  I highlight one that has been brought to my attention by my buddy.  

There are fragments of our society, that starting at a very young age, take their daughters and begin teaching and training them.  They spend a great deal of money, give them special cloths to wear, and teach them how to think.  They teach them that they are a chosen group, and often, that they are better than the rest of their peers because they are pretty and popular.   They teach them chants that they can use to entertain and impress.  And after they learn these things, they are taken in front of a great crowd of the general population (usually made up of mostly fanatical men), dressed in very little, and paraded in front of the old and young men of the area.  These men yell and holler, encouraging them to dance and yell.  I am speaking of the cheerleader.  

Will the people of future millenniums, looking back, ask themselves "How could they do that to their little girls?"?  Will they marvel that we counted ourselves lucky if our daughters were a part of this chosen group?  Will the stereotypes of today, that cheerleaders are saddled with, be counted as fact?

It seems to be the be all and end all of their lives, to be a cheerleader. I went to a Jr. High last night and noticed several things.  They seem to be perfectly on a cheer schedule.  They must have a timer, and when that timer goes off they have to do a cheer.  It doesn't matter if there is a timeout going on or not.  It doesn't matter if we are winning or loosing.  It doesn't matter if we are or offense or defense.  Yesterday, we were being beaten 20 something to zip and or cheerleaders do the cheer of were #1.  The best is when we have about 30 seconds left and are down by 20+ and they break out the "We can still win!" cheer.  One of my personal favorites is the "Hey Gang, Say Gang" cheer.  I can't stand it.  You know the one I'm talking about.  Hey gang, say gang, listen here. This is Brittany. Lets give her a cheer.  She's a whatever grader.  They all hold hands, swinging their arms.  I have yet to see anyone in the crowd pay attention.  It is a classic third quarter cheer.

I also noticed yesterday that after every cheer, without exception, they would congregate in front of the stands to gulp bottled water.  I admit, it was about 90 degrees.  And they had jumped once or twice, and, oh, clapped their hands.  The knee braces are even better.  Not one of them can do the splits or a back flip, but they somehow have managed to injure themselves.  

El Toro Negro