I was a child of the '70's. Our parents didn't have to strap us down in car seats until we were 12 years old. We would tool around the neighborhood on our big wheels, unsupervised at all hours of the day and usually into the evenings. We rode on bicycles without big white, goofy looking helmets. Our TV shows were Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood and Saturday morning cartoons. Neither of which were crappy anime or half hour commercials for toy lines.
Despite all of that, I look back at my generation and think we had it damn good. Despite being teased unmercifully by the bullies of my grade school, I look back at my childhood and remember how much of it I enjoyed.
Now here comes the "kids today" part that will age me greatly.
I'm finding that the generations that are teens and young adults now are, quite simply, a bunch of A-Holes.
There's a Machiavellian and quite shallow nature about them which makes me worry for the future. It's as though they are already getting into the corporate American groove of greed and apathy.
Not only are these kids being pampered and spoiled, their attitudes are becoming more and more expectant and entitled.
These kids are not being brought up with TV shows like Scooby-Doo or The Superfriends where the message of fighting evil and helping your fellow man were present. They're being brain washed by horrible reality show stars that make acting drunk and obnoxious will thrust you to fame and fortune.. Hey kids, you'll be rewarded for rotten behavior. Just watch Snookie!
Kids haven't been going outside to play with action figures for years. Instead they go online and play some multiplayer combat game where they toss out racial slurs and homophobic insults at each other and people they never met. This behavior isn't a rarity, it's the norm.
These bent and broken values seem prevalent in the young adults of today as well. I live in a part of town where there are scads of "twenty something's". They are young, privileged people who find it perfectly acceptable to be rude or at least stand offish as much as possible. They are far quicker to become belligerent when met with conflict than try and work things out.
I'm really hoping I'm just being an old out of touch grump and there truly is hope for the coming generations. I've been an uncle for over a year now and I delight in it as much as I can. Right now my niece, Lil' G, is in a constant state of wonderment and exploration of her environment and surroundings. She is a long way from being exposed to a lot of the shallowness of youth. I'm hoping to god that she'll be smart enough to steer clear of it, not get caught up in it or be victimized by it.
There are a lot of wonderful teachers and parents out there that are trying to intercept the attitude problems at earlier ages. Cheers to them. Let's hope it's not too late.
In other news....
Happy Father's Day all of you Father's our there! My friend Roberto got a wonderful gift from his daughter yesterday. A build a zombie action figure where one can customize and create their own zombie action figure! How flippin' cool is that? I guess there are little hints of hope for the coming generations.
Also, I had the fun experience of playing a new, fun, very adult oriented card game called Cards Against Humanity. If you have a dark and twisted, dirty mind, this game is just for you. I think I enjoyed it even more than Munchkin.
That'll be it for this time. Until next time, GETTHEHELLOFFMYLAWNYOUDAMNKIDS!!!!
Zangz.
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