can someone cheer me up?

[Sea Dangles]

There is a good chance your Dad said the same thing 40 years ago.
The world is a work in progress, embrace it and move forward.
Living in the past is poison.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

There is a good chance your Dad said the same thing 40 years ago.
The world is a work in progress, embrace it and move forward.
Living in the past is poison.

i dont think so. he would cite the great advances in race relations. he had mostly african american friends grwoing up and expercienced racism first hand, he loved the advances in technology in his lifetime.
he went to school same as i did, played outside same as I did. Im pretty sure he would say that things have improved from his childhood.
Can I say the same for my kids? Are things better now?
Im not willing to embrace police at schools, security everywhere, less and less freedom. its not how I want my kids to live.

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

i dont think so. he would cite the great advances in race relations. he had mostly african american friends grwoing up and expercienced racism first hand, he loved the advances in technology in his lifetime.
he went to school same as i did, played outside same as I did. Im pretty sure he would say that things have improved from his childhood.
Can I say the same for my kids? Are things better now?
Im not willing to embrace police at schools, security everywhere, less and less freedom. its not how I want my kids to live.

Places in time I guess .. funny ,, I just saw the history of xmas on the history channel . Very telling . Children were not valued as much in this country until after the industrial revolution . I guess they were factory workers before that . They became the center of the home during the Victorian age . Santa Claus was invented ,, later songs ,, Rudolph ,, White Christmas.. This all happened 50's early 60's .. 1962 (Charles #^&#^&#^&#^&ens) A Christmas Carol with Mr. Magoo was the best telling of that story ever . As beautiful time as it was to grow up, all this Santa Claus stuff was fueled by advertisers. Even Santa coming down the chimney was a ad to sell Coal originally . enter Black Friday,,, Now people going out shopping is becoming less and pushing buttons in your home buying on the internet is becoming the norm ,, I believe that's black Monday ? ,, the busiest shopping day now .. For better or worse we never stand still .. We evolve ..

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

There is a good chance your Dad said the same thing 40 years ago.
The world is a work in progress, embrace it and move forward.
Living in the past is poison.

"There is a good chance your Dad said the same thing 40 years ago."

I doubt it. I don't think too many of today's seniors think that our current culture is superior to what their children grew up within.

RIJIMMY was exactly right when he talked about things as simle as going out to ride bikes with friends and play in the woods.

Today, the average American teenager reads over one hundred texts a day. They are bombarded with sex and violence. The economy presents challenges (finding a good job, buying a nice house, paying for healthcare, saving for retirement, paying for kids' college) that are significantly harder today.

Our culture is not a healthy one.

I grew up in RIJIMMY's childhood. I had two parents of different sex, who loved us and watched us like hawks. We had supper together every single day, all of us around the dinner table talking to each other. The TV was off. My grandparents were often with us. We went to church every single week, and we discussed what was said, and how we should incorporate the lesson into our lives and relationships. My parents knew every single thing that we all did. When we came home at night, no matter how late it was, my mother (who could smell trouble a mile away) checked us out before we went to bed. We didn't drink or do drugs, because the chances of getting away with it were exactly zero. When my girlfriend was over, if we watched TV in my room, the door was to remain wide open at all times. Today, I know parents that let their teenage kids have unsupervised sleepovers with their girlfriends, let them sleep in the same bed for Chrissakes.

Our values and morality are eroded. We have far less empathy for our neighbors.

"Living in the past is poison"

Tell that to 20 sets of parents in Newtown CT. Because in the not-so-distant past in this country, there was no such thing as school shootings.