During a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, first lady Melania Trump (damn, that was hard to type) called on world leaders to teach young people the importance of living by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The theme of Trump’s speech seemed to be that we should be careful about the lessons we teach our children, because they will most definitely act on what they learn. She even mentioned cyberbullying, which was a bit ironic, since her husband is often seen as one of the biggest cyberbullies of all time.
The full remarks of Trump’s speech were transcribed by a writer from the San Diego Union-Tribune. At the beginning of her speech, she said:
I would like to welcome and thank all of you for joining me here today. I’m honored to serve as first lady of the United States and I look forward to sharing with each of you my sincere hopes for all that we will be able to do together to promote peace, human rights and human dignity, leaving no one behind, especially not our children.
So far so good, right?
She continued by saying that being a mother to her son, Barron, is the most important and joyous role she’s ever had, and that loving, educating and bringing up the next generation to be happy, productive and morally responsible adults should be the essential focus in everyone’s life.
“Whether it is drug addiction, bullying, poverty, disease, trafficking, illiteracy or hunger, it is the children who are hit first and hardest in any country. And as we all know, the future of every nation rests with the promise of their young people,” she said.
And here is where we get to the part that makes you start to wonder what it’s like at home with her, her husband and their young son:
If you look at the present state of children in any society, we will see the future that our world can expect tomorrow. Show me your civic lessons of today and I will show you your civic leaders of tomorrow. Show me your history lessons of today and I will show you your political leaders of tomorrow. Show me the loving bonds between your families today and I will show you the patriotism and moral clarity of your nation tomorrow. Our choices on how we raise and educate our children will in fact provide the blueprint for the next generation.
What lessons does she think her husband is teaching not only their young son but an entire nation of young people who see their president on social media and on television saying the first thing that pops into his head without any type of filter? How do the comments he made in his U.N. speech align with what she thinks the children of the world learn from the adults around them? Does she see any irony in this at all?
She continued:
We must remember that they are watching and listening so we must never miss an opportunity to teach life’s many ethical lessons along the way. As adults we are not merely responsible. We are accountable. I hope you will join me in committing ourselves to teaching the next generation to live by and honor the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, which is my paramount in today’s society and my focus as first lady.
This sounds like a speech Melania Trump should have been giving to her husband at the dinner table, not to foreign dignitaries at the U.N. who have likely not shown their asses even a fraction as much as Donald Trump has. Is he responsible? Is he accountable? Is he living by and honoring the Golden Rule?
“It remains our generation’s moral imperative to take responsibility for what our children learn. We must turn our focus right now to the message and content they are exposed to on a daily basis through social media, the bullying, the experience online and in person, and the growing global epidemic of drug addiction and drug overdose,” she said.
I’m not going to bother repeating myself. The words in bold are my emphasis, not hers or the Union-Tribune’s. The irony is there, and it is making me constipated.
I can’t remember the exact wording, but there is an old saying about not sweeping around my front door when your house ain’t clean, and that applies here.
If Melania Trump is truly concerned about the messaging and content that children are exposed to on a daily basis through social media, including bullying, she should start with cleaning up her husband’s act first.
Read more at the San Diego Union-Tribune.