A touch of sadness

I used to have a clip from a German educational newsletter hanging on my fridge. Translated it went something like, "Our youth is rotten, lazy and godless, they will never be capable of sustaining our culture." It was from a Babylonian clay tablet from 3,000 BCE. It would seem that some things never change.

OK, the Babylonians aren't around anymore, so I suppose there was at least a grain of truth in what they were thinking. On the other hand, the question I really liked asking myself was who let the children get that way in the first place? Yes, it was the parents, the older generation, the ones who should have known better.

It's easy to say the kids are the problem. Yes, we have youth problems. We had them in the 20s, the 60s, the 80s, the 90s, the 00s ... we've got them today. But is it really all that surprising? Aside from the sickly sweetness of the statement that it takes a whole village to raise a child, there is something in that statement as well. Our kids see everything we do these days. And what it is that they get to see?

Violence as the alleged solution to problems (e.g. Iran, OWS protests). Injustice directed at certain segments of the population (e.g. "illegal immigrants"). Grown people whining about not getting what they want (e.g. deregulation advocates). Demagoguery, like spoiled rich people demonizing everyone else, even those who are trying (how weird is it that rich folks quote Marx to make their case?). Cowering (anyone see John King's handling of a non-answer to a valid question?).

There was a time when great writers (Jefferson, Voltaire ...) were held in high-esteem, not quote-opted to justify the opposite of what the context of their writing portrayed. There was a time when reason trumped loudness. There was a time when common sense was relatively common. There was a time when it mattered what our children thought of us.

I don't have the clip on my fridge anymore. UV got to it, but it doesn't really matter. All I have to do is turn on the tube to remind myself that the more things change, the more they stay the same.