Earlier this week, I wrote of my nice experience with youth who were at risk, and needed some direction. There were some amazing young people who were a part of the function I was involved in who just needed someone to believe in them. They just needed a chance to shine and win some confidence for themselves. They were respectful, determined, and supportive of one another, as they identified with each others' struggle to find an identity for themselves. That is the happy side of the coin, because those kids can start to believe in themselves and their own importance, and they also had supportive adults in the fold taking an interest in their endeavors to be productive members of society.
Later in the week a friend told me of an experience talking with an older gentleman at a beach walk. They were having a pleasant conversation as the gentleman prepared for his daily walk. He was described as very pleasant, polite, and just a joy to converse with. As they were talking some young man in a car pulled up beside them where they were parked and proceeded to blast his music as loud and as distorted as any human ear should be able to tolerate. The gentleman politely said to the young man that he was in the middle of a conversation and couldn't hear, so could he please turn the music down somewhat. The young man (And I use that term loosely) told the older gentleman to go F himself. The man then shrugged his shoulders in dismay, and proceeded to go for his walk.
That incident is symptomatic of some of today's youth. They have zero respect for anyone. When I was younger, it would have never occurred to me to speak to an elder in such a manner, If found out that I did, I would probably just now be able to eat solid foods. The point is that every generation has disrespectful kids to an extent but right now it is at the absolute peak of disgust because of some particularly important reasons in my opinion.
Plain and simple for me reason number one, is that there were ass whippings when I was growing up. There was a discipline system that informed me that there would be consequences to my actions. Some kids today are given these wonderful time outs, or they are told that they can't have their I pad for a couple of days. What is the consequence there? I was told on the other hand that I would be able to see the future because I would be knocked into tomorrow. This is not abuse..There is a distinct difference. And parents are sometimes parenting with one hand tied behind their back. Kids threaten to call authorities if disciplined. I would have been given the phone so that the authorities could hear my ass getting whipped. Kids will push boundaries, and they need to know that when overstepping their bounds their are serious consequences. They will respect and love in the process, they will ultimately understand codes of behavior that they will carry with them as they deal with folks for the rest of their lives. They will respect others, they will be responsible adults who have innate ethics of conduct and work, and they will not tolerate garbage because they understand just what chaos out of hand situations could bring.
Another factor, and I firmly believe this, is the message that these idiotic reality shows send to kids subliminally. These shows tell them that if they befriend someone, stab them in the back, lie, cheat, become some out of control character, and swear all over creation, then they will win "The prize". Whether that prize be monetary, or notoriety, isn't important to them. They are led to believe that the more outrageous the conduct, the better. They believe that they are watching reality, but in fact they are numb to it, and have no concept on how to conduct themselves with restraint, and have respect for others around.They have no clues as to how the real world operate, because they live in a fantasy of outrageous behavior with no consequences. Now not every young person is targeted in this rant, but quite a few who have no strong minded adults or discipline to shape them, fall for the stupidity and influence of these idiotic shows. Yes we had idiotic shows in my day, but they were not calling themselves "A realistic day in the life of.." They were harmless unrealistic "unrealisms" (Not a word, but you get the message)
What happens between these two worlds of non discipline and fantasy makes some kids grow up believing that they can do whatever they want and say whatever they please because no one will discipline them, and not only that, they will get recognized. They then grow up to be the most self centered disrespectful, obnoxious adults possible because they were not shown how to exist cooperatively within society. It becomes all about them, and what they want, and how the world can give them something. And they grow up to be the young idiot in the car who told a nice elderly gentleman to F himself.
What would have been nice would have been for that older gentleman to have been a veteran of a war who fought for this idiot's freedom. It would have been a wonderful story if the gentleman yanked that punk out of the car, and beat the snot out of him while giving him a lecture on respect. I would have gladly posted pictures of that on Facebook. Sadly that did not happen, as the gentleman just shrugged his shoulders and walked off. That punk needs his ass kicked, and probably should have gotten his ass whipped years ago which is part of the problem. Folks will argue with me on the problems of some youth, and there are valid points in all arguments I'm sure.
One thing is certain as I observe some of the behavior of youth..There are good kids, and there are bad kids just like always..The bad kids keep getting worse..And the phrase "Kids will be kids" just doesn't apply anymore. Why? Because it is beginning to be hard to tell where the kid ends, and where the adult begins.
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