Our youth now love luxury, they have bad manners,
contempt for authority,
they show disrespect for their elders
and love chatter in the place of exercise;
they no longer rise when their elders enter the room;
they contradict their parents,
chatter before company,
gobble up their food and tyrannize teachers.
Ok youth of America. We have been beating up on you the last week. But, it's not just us. We promise. It's been a universal anthem for centuries. Torch wielding villagers have long marched on that misunderstood Frankenstein of puberty and rebellion-teenagers.
There is a song from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" that has the late Paul Lynde lamenting the downward spiral of the 60's teen generation. "Kids! What's the matter with kids today?...Why can't they be like we were, perfect in every way...what's the matter with kids today?" Officer Krumpke in the 1950 era "West Side Story" knows them juvenile delinquents teens are just plain bad. And of course those Elizabethan lovers, Romeo and Juliet, defy their parents, break their rules, have passionate sex and use stupor inducing drugs. (however, things did not exactly work out too well for the star -crossed lovers)
See. It's not just your generation. Everyone older thinks those younger are going to hell in a hand basket. In the 60's, flower children with their "make love mantra" and long hair made the FBI's secret lists.When Elvis Presley wiggled those famous hips, editorials around America forecast the fall of civilization. James Dean rebeled with no cause and before him, Frank Sinatra sent infamous "bobby soxers' into fits of passion and adults into fits of concern. F Scott Fitzgerald wrote of jazz age twenty-somethings without a goal or a conscience and Mark Twain penned the following; " when a child turns thirteen, you put him in a barrel with only a hole to feed him through. When he turns eighteen, plug the hole."
However, there are some things you might think about as you read this blog. Your present choices determine your future. Attitude makes a huge difference in opportunities. Success later demands some sacrifice today. Do not accept negative circumstances in your life-identify them and rise above them. Don't let them drag you down. Choose the right friends and the right diversions. You are not stupid. Stay out of trouble. Plan ahead and work toward that plan. Make good grades. Communicate with teachers and let them know it is important to you and that you are really trying. If you and your parents are not communicating right now, discuss with them how to remedy the situation. Allies are much better than enemies.
One more thing. The quote that opened this piece? A Greek named Socrates. Fifth Century B.C.
Here is an easy dish for this cold, icy weather.
Drip Beef Sandwiches
Dump in Crock pot
1 roast- rump, arm or chuck
1 or 2 pkg's pkg Lipton Dry onion soup (depending on size of roast)
1 or 2 cans of beef consomme
1 cup red wine or water
garlic
Lee and Perrin
salt and pepper
Cook all day. Two or three hours before serving, shred with fork and cover again.
Serve with good hard rolls-toasted with au-jus on the side.
Horseradish, mustard, mayo as desired.
Note: you can change the flavor by adding Bar-B-Q Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, Liquid Smoke
I agree completely with Chrissie. Roman writings are full of comments about how the younger generation is not quite on a par with the older generation. A well respected professor at Notre Dame said that he could not tell a student from one decade from a student from another decade, if each was plopped down in his classroom simultaneously. If you grew up with the mores of the 50's, however, what is going on today is startling. Think, though, of what parents who had teenagers in the 60's or 70's must have thought about the long hair, music, pot smoking and LSD, student sit-ins and shootings on campuses, war protests - it could not have seemed worse then than what is going on now, could it? There are good kids out there!
ReplyDeleteMelony
i hope you are right. It seems more than clothes and music. Greasers were getting in trouble for chewing gum in class and driving hot rods too fast. Hippies were in college albeit untidy and vocal. Most came from two parent homes and traditional backgrounds. Teen pregnancies were not celebrated and beating up each other was not posted on the internet.
ReplyDeleteNow ROle models are talentless young women with eating disorders, addiction problems (sans underpants) and overpaid selfish men behaving badly on their playing fields or rapping obcenities and holding on to their crotches. For most kids, hard work and sacrifice are not components for success and happiness.
kids all want to be famous and rich and they want it to be easy
Did anyone see the expose on TV yesterday about women choosing to stay unmarried - about 49% of our female population? That does not bode well for your comment about previous generations coming from the support of a two parent family, does it? How will children be supported both emotionally and financially in the future without two parents? Like a catfish farm, we will have children farms? Or be like Europe and be a dwindling society vulnerable to being overrun?
ReplyDeleteWell,,,,My opinion may have many women trying to find me so thay can tar and feather me. But here goes anyway:
ReplyDeleteI do believe all women have the right to do any job they prefer. I believe women are just as capable of running this world as men are. Maybe even better, but that is another topic altogether.But it is still my firm belief that children need as their day to day, hour by hour care giver, one of their parents.I just feel that if a couple decides to have children, they should decide which one of them is going to stay home to raise them... And it is my belief that women were created by God with the ability to use at the same time their left and right brain, for just that purpose.That is not to say men can't do it. It is just that men as a rule are not multi taskers. And anyone who cares for children knows you must be able to multi task 24 hours a day! We are raising kids in day care that for the most part are nothing more than warehouses for our children.I don't care how wonderful a day care is, they are not going to love a child the way it's parent does. And all children need one on one attention. We have both parents working so we can give our kids more and more material things, and greater "comforts" in life, and we are too tired and stressed out to actually "Parent" these kids. They are parenting each other. And we have only taught them greed and selfishness by giving them so many "things". That is why they all want to be rich and famous without any effort.They know nothing of earning what they have. And if they must experience not getting something they want, to them it is the end of the world.We have replaced parenting with "things". And we wonder why these kids seem to lack feeling for their fellow man...
CaveDweller
You have a good point, Cave Dweller. A sad, but good point. That's why Chrissie and I are writing this column, because kids are increasingly parenting each other and their own parents, as well. I adamantly wrote about teenagers working their lives away for the sake of having material goods. Something will stop it eventually - a disaster, a big war, the tides of thought will change, America will slowly decline and fall, people could come to their senses, maybe - but, something will stop it eventually. Brittney's showing her you-know-what to the cameras really did disgust alot of people, kids included. So did Janet Jackson's breast exposure at the Superbowl. So that's at least promising - a glimmer of hope for humanity!
ReplyDeleteFor those in the brain business please clean up this borrowed comparison. Between each half of a male brain is a dirt path connection and between the halves of a female brain is 10 lane super highway connection giving them the better ability to multitask. Is this close to a scientific fact and can we males improve our highway connection if so?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous, you will notice that none of us ladies have responded to your email! I have heard the same thing about the male and female brains. I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you (and I'm not being flippant - keep reading!), because biology caused our gender-based brains to develope for certain reasons. Anthropologists say that the brains of primitive man were trained to survey the horizon, looking out for enemies, whereas primitive women's brains were focused around the hearth, looking out for the babies, cooking, feeding babies, and doing ten things at one time way back then, too!!
ReplyDeleteI guess my point is that we need both types of brains to keep our species going. We should appreciate and support the functions of both men and women equally. If I find any tips on how to make a man's brain more like a woman's brain, I'll let you know! Have you also heard that the male chromosome is weakening, though? Scientists predict there will be no more men and it may signal the end of our species!! Maybe we should leave our brains as is!
What is the best cut of beef to use for this recipe? Mine was not very tender though the flavor was good.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDid you have a lot of the liquids in the pot? It should cover the meat the entire cooking time and be used for the "drip" afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is cooked slowly and on a low temp all day.