Neo-To-Go

I saw a commercial recently. Nothing so very exciting in that-- but mark the sequel. The commercial was for Neo-To-Go, which is a little portable spray bottle of antibiotic/painkiller. It fits in your pocket; you need to carry it with you at all times apparently, because children are always scraping themselves up and without the all-important Neo-To-Go they will contract horrifying and painful diseases. The commercial started with three classily dressed and dazzlingly smiling mothers sitting on a park bench and chatting, when a small boy fell off the slide (which was about a foot off the ground). He started bawling, so the three mothers simultaneously whipped out their little bottles of painkiller and dashed to the aid of the wounded child.
Now, I am not a very deep thinker (those close to me frequently point out that I rarely think at all), but at that point in time I broke the trend and had some brainwaves. How ironic, I said to myself, that those three mothers were so overprotective. And why was it ironic? I asked myself. Well, it seemed to me that those
three overprotective mothers were typical products of our culture. The parents that send their children off to public school without a second thought, don't know half their children's friends (including boyfriends and girlfriends), etc. How come they have portable bottles of painkiller for insignificant scrapes of the elbow, and yet they send their children into the teeth of the wolves every day of the week? They wave goodbye at the bus stop! Don't mistake me here: I am not saying that every parent who public-schools his child is stupid and/or evil. I am saying that our culture has (purposefully and cunningly) gotten the threats mixed up. The things that should be toughened up (i.e. feelings, bodies) are coddled and babied until they're squishy and easily wounded. And the very things that NEED sheltering and protection (hearts and minds) are simply tossed carelessly into the hands of whomever wants them.
"Hey, fifteen-year-old boy whose name I've already forgotten, here's my daughter's heart. Be back by eleven with her, she needs to go to school to learn how to be a government-fearing atheist tomorrow."
It's so hideously and tragically ironic how our culture has twisted and warped our conception of harm. Jimmy can go off to his preschool five days a week, and the government can have his heart and soul, but heaven FORBID that his poor little toe should be stubbed, or that his poor little feelings should be hurt because George is faster than he is at the sack race.
Why have we lost sight of what's really important?