Tuesday, October 26, 2010

This and that

I was listening to Michael Savage the other week, and he has a new book out "Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on our Borders, Economy, and Security"

Ted Nugent did a review of it, said everyone should read it. I just read part of it on Amazon.com, via the "look inside" feature (so handy!) and in the Author's Note, this really struck me:

"America has gone from EISENHOWER to OBAMA in two generations...From JOHN WAYNE to LADY GAGA in two generations...From I LOVE LUCY to I LOVE LOOSELY in two generations...From STARLETS to HARLOTS in two generations..."

And he has other from - to statements in there. How far America has fallen. It's like the amoral-ness of today is so fashionable. And if you object, you are a prude, 'Victorian', et&. How is it prudish to say that such and such is WRONG and not right?

I think it started with the failure of the Depression generation, the WW2 generation, in not making their children work for what they got - i.e., they wanted their children to not have to go through want, deprivation, any hardship - way better than they had growing up in the Depression. Gave them looser boundaries, gave them things without requiring anything in return. And in turn, THAT generation that is known as the Baby-Boomers, only continued in excess, what had been given to them. They were so concerned with *self* that they really did not pay attention to what their children were doing/learning, etc. "Let it all hang out" and "If it feels good, do it" ruled the boomer generation, and they passed these values on down to their children. It takes up a snowball effect, rolling down a hill - you may start off with a small 3-inch diameter snowball, but by the time it hits the middle of the hill on the mountain, it is much larger, and by the time it hits the bottom it is HUGE. Are we only half-way down that mountain with the snowball? Can it be stopped somehow, and possibly reversed?

This subject I've thought on for years. I took an English Comp. class at the Junior College up in the next county when my youngest was small - and my essay was on 'Reaping the Whirlwind'. I was supposed to start off with a few ideas, and an outline. However, it *appears* that I cannot do an outline, I've tried and it always ends up NOT being what I ramble on about, so I just skipped the outline, and wrote out my essay in less than an hour. Kind of the way I rant oh here at times.. although it's been few and far between lately.

I am seriously wondering *why* these parents raised their children as they did. My parents grew up in the Depression (they were born in 25 & 28); and I know my mother worked at her mom's bakery, and they ate alot of french toast - old bread that did not sell, with eggs and milk from her grandmother's small farm. My dad's mother had a job, but as his father died when he was three, she had to take care of 2 small boys by herself. My dad told me that he remembered going to a church to get 'new shoes' one day with his brother and his mom - he said there were huge piles of shoes, and you tried on shoes until you found a pair that fit.

My parents I guess weren't of the type that gave you everything...but under our Christmas tree there were always lots of presents, even though they included such gifts as underwear, socks, pajamas etc. Items that were actually *useful* although I think my favorite was the giant (6 foot tall) dinosaur bone set made of styrofoam that you assembled.

It seems many of my generation were given alot - because our parents wanted us to not have to go through what they had, but it seems also that many of my generation also were not taught to raise kids properly, and it just went on from there, to that parents of today, that have small children, are clueless as to what to do with their kids. I am at the tail end of the boomer generation, the last year of it - so I'm not exactly sure which generation I identify more with. Actually I think the great-grandparents - parents of the Depression generation - as my mom dealt with us the way her mother did, and I raised my kids the same way.

Back to morals and the lack of them today. America is turning degenerate - and I feel like I'm swimming upstream, with the flow going against me. Is it just me, or am I loopy?

1 comment:

  1. Diane:
    As a baby boomer myself (born 1952) I think we were the last generation that had parents that pretty much gave a crap about such Draconian things as MORALITY, ETHICS, and personal responsibility.
    (whenever something went wrong, I was repsonsible - the curse of an ONLY child...lol)

    And my parents DID want me to have more than what THEY had...BUT (there was always a "but" in our house) we were provided with the "tools" to MAKE that happen.
    Dad always said that "You think anything you want will fall from the sky or come flying out my a$$?"

    My folks also believed that you learn by DOING...and, is is often the case, you learn by making MISTAKES.

    You don't ALWAYS "win", but you can still be a victor over ANY adversity...as long as you are willing to WORK for it.

    While I don't think I'm swimming against the current (and I do love salmon), I sure as hell hate "tubing" along WITH it...those rapids look pretty damn nasty up ahead.

    Excellent post, dear.

    Tell it LIKE IT IS!

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