Today's post is brought to you by the seemingly complete and utter disregard for law and order (and I'm not talking about the tv show) that 90% of today's youth seem to hold. They think nothing of breaking the law if it's a law they don't feel like complying with. They think "well, people are going to do whatever they want anyway, why should I bother trying to stop them (or talk to them, or convince them, or change their mind, or anything at all).
Today I was talking with my son about having knowledge that someone is planning to drive without a license or insurance and how it bothered me that that person thought it was ok simply b/c they didn't feel like dealing with those two things. They had no thought for the other people on the road who would suffer if the uninsured person hit them causing any damage to persons or property. They had no thought for the consequences that could bring to their current situation of being on probation and parole.
My son listened to me speaking so sincerely and so passionately about this, about the topic of doing what is right even if its not convenient for us, then expressed that the person would do what they like why should I get involved if I couldn't change that. I said "so should we just roll over and play dead about anything someone is doing that is wrong because we think the outcome may not change things" I can't live like that I can't give up on my beliefs because they may not change the world. And after hearing me again earnestly express my reluctance to give up and accept the situation, he replied to me "well, good luck with that Barney Fife." What a belittling and arrogant comment. It just drove home to me that the disregard going on is fairly universal in that age range.
Doing the right thing is something you either believe in or you don't. But I truly depair for the future of the next generation if no one cares enough to see it through. If everyone is only out for their own desires with no thought for others in society, or the rules and laws that keep us from a state of anarchy, then how will they have any semblance of a chance for greatness?
The generation before me was called "the greatest generation" - they grew up during WWII and learned to live through hardships, to stand up for right and wrong. They protested and marched in the 60s for civil rights, equality for all, and other social issues. They lobbied to change laws that weren't right for them.
My generation grew up in the 80s - we didn't have hard lives compared to generations before us. We still believed in things though and were raised with the concept of right and wrong. Some make choices to denounce those values but at least they were ingrained in us.
The generation after me has shown me apathy, disregard for structure, values, laws, and disrespect for those who try to impart to them the importance of doing what is right instead of what they feel like doing right now. I have said many times over the last few years - I fear for the future of this country because of everything I see about the group of people who will one day lead it. Because of shortcomings in their education, because of the general decline in values, morals, respect, law-abidingness (is that a word? :) I'm not talking about a problem with people believing in the same values, morals, etc. that I have - I'm talking about having any at all. I just want the younger generation to strive for something, anything worthwhile in living in a society and not in a free-for-all anarchy.
If you don't like a law - lobby to get it changed. Don't simply disregard it or blatantly break it because it's inconvenient for you to follow it. Do things the right way. Do the right thing. Do it because you know it's right. Don't ignore something that you know is wrong, simply because you might fail to make a difference. The act of trying in defense of justice and rightness is the difference itself. Everyone can make that difference, they only have to try.
~~~
so in keeping with older posts (I can't believe it's been a year and a half since something made me mad enough to blog! :) - today's post adds a point to the same reason the last post from 11/07 had for IHEITW - "The downfall of civilization if we're relying on the youth of today" - that's at a score of 2 now.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
this blog will never run out of topics!
Ok, "why i hate everyone in the world" post is brought to you by the downfall of the english language. Everywhere I turn people are using poor grammar, slang words, gansta rap phrases, etc. Shorty-this and shorty-that and good lord enough already. It's almost like another language - like Esperanto was a mix of english and spanish - today it's a lazy mix of street slang and already low-grade american (too far from "english" to keep the title).
I've already blogged at strange things compel me about the ridiculous misuse of "your" vs "you're". Today I want to talk about "someone's name and I". If you're (not your :) saying "Sally and I went to the store" that's fine and correct. But many people caption pictures with "Sally and I" - it should be "Sally and Me" - if you were the only one in the picture would you caption it "I"? No, I don't think you would.
I don't know if I'm holding people to impossible standards - I don't think so, many generations have survived speaking properly. I'm not being old and saying "kids today...." I know each generation has come up with new words, slangs, phrases, etc. and I'm fine with that. They're incorporated into the vernacular and life goes on. But the constant and overwhelming overuse of street slange, cursing and sexual phrases is beyond the pale at this point.
Personally, I believe, that soon the South Americans and the Iraq will be more conversant with the rest of the world than the youth of America. I fear for the future of the country quite honestly. The % of youth who read voluntarily has declined, text messaging (which I love, don't get me wrong) has eroded spelling, the use of calculators for the most simple math problems (many teenagers don't even know their multiplication tables) have all contributed to a youth that doesn't know the meaning of most polysyllabic words, doesn't know or comprehend metaphors or 'sayings' - like one I used above - "beyond the pale" and so on, and can't make change or calculate a tip without their cell phone's calculator!
A National Endowment for the Arts study showed that "the percentage of high school graduates deemed by employers as "deficient" in writing in English" was 72%. The NEA chairman "called the decline in reading 'perhaps the most important socio-economic issue in the United States,' and called for changes 'in the way we're educating kids, especially in high school and college. We need to reconnect reading with pleasure and enlightenment.' The study suggests we are losing the majority of the new generation.... 'the majority of young Americans will not realize their individual, economic or social potential.'" (you can read the full article at yahoo).
I also read a recent article by a teacher who said he'd had entire classes who couldn't define 'agriculture' or who didn't know how to use a ruler - he said he was moving to another country when he retired. My friend Mark's idea to move to Kenya and be adopted into a tribe that reveres their elders is sounding more and more appealing!
Anyway it wasn't a specific person or event tonight, just something was a catalyst for me to talk about this ongoing annoyance. So the tally for tonight, overall would just be:
The downfall of civilization if we're relying on the youth of today - 1 :)
p.s. The whole "licking the fingers to get a plastic bag" thing happened again today - this time at Walmart. That brings the tally for "People sharing saliva that I don't want" to 2.
toodles
I've already blogged at strange things compel me about the ridiculous misuse of "your" vs "you're". Today I want to talk about "someone's name and I". If you're (not your :) saying "Sally and I went to the store" that's fine and correct. But many people caption pictures with "Sally and I" - it should be "Sally and Me" - if you were the only one in the picture would you caption it "I"? No, I don't think you would.
I don't know if I'm holding people to impossible standards - I don't think so, many generations have survived speaking properly. I'm not being old and saying "kids today...." I know each generation has come up with new words, slangs, phrases, etc. and I'm fine with that. They're incorporated into the vernacular and life goes on. But the constant and overwhelming overuse of street slange, cursing and sexual phrases is beyond the pale at this point.
Personally, I believe, that soon the South Americans and the Iraq will be more conversant with the rest of the world than the youth of America. I fear for the future of the country quite honestly. The % of youth who read voluntarily has declined, text messaging (which I love, don't get me wrong) has eroded spelling, the use of calculators for the most simple math problems (many teenagers don't even know their multiplication tables) have all contributed to a youth that doesn't know the meaning of most polysyllabic words, doesn't know or comprehend metaphors or 'sayings' - like one I used above - "beyond the pale" and so on, and can't make change or calculate a tip without their cell phone's calculator!
A National Endowment for the Arts study showed that "the percentage of high school graduates deemed by employers as "deficient" in writing in English" was 72%. The NEA chairman "called the decline in reading 'perhaps the most important socio-economic issue in the United States,' and called for changes 'in the way we're educating kids, especially in high school and college. We need to reconnect reading with pleasure and enlightenment.' The study suggests we are losing the majority of the new generation.... 'the majority of young Americans will not realize their individual, economic or social potential.'" (you can read the full article at yahoo).
I also read a recent article by a teacher who said he'd had entire classes who couldn't define 'agriculture' or who didn't know how to use a ruler - he said he was moving to another country when he retired. My friend Mark's idea to move to Kenya and be adopted into a tribe that reveres their elders is sounding more and more appealing!
Anyway it wasn't a specific person or event tonight, just something was a catalyst for me to talk about this ongoing annoyance. So the tally for tonight, overall would just be:
The downfall of civilization if we're relying on the youth of today - 1 :)
p.s. The whole "licking the fingers to get a plastic bag" thing happened again today - this time at Walmart. That brings the tally for "People sharing saliva that I don't want" to 2.
toodles
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Oh, no phone can do that!
This is my first post on what will probably be a frequent blog regarding why so many people suck and why I usually hate everyone in the world (yes, sorry, that probably does include you). My first post covers events of Friday, November 16, 2007.
I was returning a cell phone I had recently purchased because I had decided I really didn't like it after trying it for a few weeks. I went to the AT&T store at the local mall and when I went in, a clerk asked if he could help me.
I said "I need to return this phone - but first, can you help me put my sim card back in it so I can transfer the pictures I took with it from the phone so I can keep them?" He said "oh, you can't do that." I was returning the phone because it didn't have some features that my current phone has, so I thought this was just one more thing it couldn't do. "Oh," he said so smugly and condescendingly, "no phone can do that!"
I can't stand it when people speak to others in a way that ridicules what they say. So, I put the sim card back in my old phone, said "oh, wait a second", turned on the phone, pulled up a picture and said "look at this - I pick a picture, hit this button, and see here it says 'move' and when I choose that, look, I can transfer it from the sim card to the phone or vice versa" You know, I tried not to be condescending myself, but I'm not sure how successful I was. He was immediately defeated and his only response was "well, that phone came out before I started working here" - well, mr. smug shop clerk, that may be true - but DON'T make blanket proclamations about the features of every phone in existence if you can't back it up!
Next I went to Kohl's and encountered two more reasons for this blog - things just kept building yesterday until I thought - I have to make a blog or this crap with make me implode. The reasons there - 1) people who leave their clothes in the fitting room instead of taking them out and putting them on the rack just outside the room. When they leave clothes in there, it makes it hard for me to get all my clothes on the very few hooks they provide. 2) check-out line clerks who lick their fingers to get a plastic bag or to open it (or even to separate bills when counting out money. Not only is this gross, but now that's it's cold and flu season, it's also potentially disease spreading behavior. Yuck!
So, I'll be keeping a tally, I guess, of what causes suckage and raging hate. So far, with the first post that would be:
Condescending shop clerks - 1
People being selfish and lazy - 1
People sharing saliva that I don't want - 1
See you soon I'm sure!
I was returning a cell phone I had recently purchased because I had decided I really didn't like it after trying it for a few weeks. I went to the AT&T store at the local mall and when I went in, a clerk asked if he could help me.
I said "I need to return this phone - but first, can you help me put my sim card back in it so I can transfer the pictures I took with it from the phone so I can keep them?" He said "oh, you can't do that." I was returning the phone because it didn't have some features that my current phone has, so I thought this was just one more thing it couldn't do. "Oh," he said so smugly and condescendingly, "no phone can do that!"
I can't stand it when people speak to others in a way that ridicules what they say. So, I put the sim card back in my old phone, said "oh, wait a second", turned on the phone, pulled up a picture and said "look at this - I pick a picture, hit this button, and see here it says 'move' and when I choose that, look, I can transfer it from the sim card to the phone or vice versa" You know, I tried not to be condescending myself, but I'm not sure how successful I was. He was immediately defeated and his only response was "well, that phone came out before I started working here" - well, mr. smug shop clerk, that may be true - but DON'T make blanket proclamations about the features of every phone in existence if you can't back it up!
Next I went to Kohl's and encountered two more reasons for this blog - things just kept building yesterday until I thought - I have to make a blog or this crap with make me implode. The reasons there - 1) people who leave their clothes in the fitting room instead of taking them out and putting them on the rack just outside the room. When they leave clothes in there, it makes it hard for me to get all my clothes on the very few hooks they provide. 2) check-out line clerks who lick their fingers to get a plastic bag or to open it (or even to separate bills when counting out money. Not only is this gross, but now that's it's cold and flu season, it's also potentially disease spreading behavior. Yuck!
So, I'll be keeping a tally, I guess, of what causes suckage and raging hate. So far, with the first post that would be:
Condescending shop clerks - 1
People being selfish and lazy - 1
People sharing saliva that I don't want - 1
See you soon I'm sure!
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