I remember from a very young age hearing the elders of society incessantly going on about "today's young people just dont know how good they have it." In one form or another hinting at the fact that they were far more appreciative of how great the world was than their children, or their children's children could ever possibly conceive.
This isn't to say that they were necessarily mistaken, but how many of these older and wiser ones had any clue as to how the younger generations got there?
I rememeber specifically my mom telling me about how her parents had grown up in fairly hard times during the great depression of US during the 1930's, also my grandmother telling me about how if her older brother wasnt able to catch any fish for dinner some nights they'd have to resort to shooting pigeons for a little animal protein sustinance.
I also remember seeing old silent home movies of my mother living a life quite more privileged than either of her parents probabaly ever imagined possible. Piles of the best Christmas gifts, vacations to theme parks, a swimming pool etc. Her father was also very fond of saying how poor he grew up and was determined to "buy his kids everything he never had the chance to own."
Now it is glaringly obvious to me how they got there, that is, entitled
Most parents seem to want their children to have an easier time at life than they did.
So as wealth and technology increases, comfort increases and we as society can easily become softer and weaker both physically, emotionally, and even morally.
Many of the most disfunctional people I've met are those whose parents handed them whatever they wanted without really teaching them what the actual cost of any such luxury actually was.
As stewards of our children it is possible to teach good work ethic and integrity to them, but with technology so readily available and inexpensive will it ever be possible for the next generation to really know how good they have it?
Just as an example I recently flew across country to visit with family. I was literally sitting in an aluminum tube at 30,000 feet above sea level travelling at 500 mph wondering to myself why the seats weren't a little more comfortable.
●This would have been absolute fantasy to even the richest of kings and robber barons even just a century and a half ago.
Honestly... I'm not a wealthy man by American standards, yet there I was doing something even the Rockefellers of three generations ago could not have possibly done. Yet this is simply a normal thing in this day and age for thousands and thousands of people .
While it is easier said than done to teach our children morals, ehtics, and thankfulness I question if it is possible to raise them in a place where there won't be things that they take for granted that we as the previous generation saw as total fantasy and unimaginable.
Really... A middle income craftsman felt entitled to be not so uncomfortable on a journey of a couple thousand miles that many people couldn't have even survived by carriage or on foot a couple of hundred years ago that would have taken months.
Not to say this is necessarily a bad thing but, I can't help but wonder where this will take society as a whole.
As the old adage goes:
●Hard times create strong men
●Strong men create good times
●Good times create weak men
●Weak men create hard times
This is a cycle, throughout history that has seemed to repeat itself many times over. Is there any way to avoid it?
What do you say?
Selah.
Photos via websearch duck duck go:
-great depression
-1950's christmas
-Virus
Interesting post. Every generation is laden with problems to solve not totally within their control. With a strong foundation those problems can be turned into opportunities for a better future.
Absolutely. There is always the concept of standing on the shoulders of giants concept to consider.
I think much of it has to do with child raising, and how to rollnwith the punches. Some make it some don't.
At least there is a good half to the cycle!
So in reality, neither people are better than the other, it's just the circumstances, not the individual that determines how good they become.
The good news is rock bottom is fast approaching and good times await.
I say that it may seem this generation has it easier than the previous but they are also facing a lot more bizarre and unsettling things than we did. School shootings, trying to figure out if someone they think is possible dating material is a man or woman, hoping the vaccines you were forced to get aren't going to cause you to get cancer, etc. The list goes on. So while people may call this the Snowflake generation, they are tough in their own way, maybe not so much brawn, etc. This write up has a good point though. Thanks for sharing. :)
The current generation certainly has challenges that their parents and grandparents would have never imagined let alone faced.
Simpler times then, and there are certainly many ways to measure "toughness."
In regards to the plane sitting comfort, I think it's relative to the current normalized standard, not to the past of what didn't even exist. So it's true that the past didn't even have planes to have seats on, but that's immaterial to the relative issue of seat comfortability on the plane we are sitting in now vs. other seats we have sat in.
We could be on a chair on the ground and think similarly. after all, if we have the technology to fly people, and the ease of making comfortable chairs to sit in, combining the two isn't so far off to expect in modern times. It's not a "right" we are entitled to, but we can expect certain advancements to follow in some cases,like the seat comfort advancements that have existed for a while to go along with plane technology.
True.
It's in movies and history, people who had less, motivated to get more, who give it too easily to their offspring who don't work hard to keep or make things better. I forget where I saw this depicted, but one father was saying how he focuses and does work in some field in order to make the world better so that his son can focus on things like art, music, and enjoying life. But that wouldn't very well last, would it? Without the drive to keep the world better, a focus on the "finer" enjoyments of life would allow those with less integrity and principles to reverse the course and corrupt things once more.
I suppose our perceived "entitlement" to a certain level of comfort is relative to what we are accusteomed to.
It's good to have technology that allows us to pursue things like art, philosophy, leisure etc. finding the balance between scraping by to barely survive and so being fat, comfortable, and lazy that we end up declining motivationally, morally, and to the point of self destruction is a challenge, to say the least in this modern world .
The Baby Boomers were granted the best economic times throughout their work life and before. Their parents, having struggled through depression and wars, gave them everything, so they would not want. However, they still required respect and acknowledgement that things cost money and money was earned. Now we are two generations beyond that and most have forgotten what it means to be self-reliant. They turn to the government for answers and solutions. When the government finally fails, then people will endure hard times again and start over.
So, no, it is a cycle, it can't be stopped.
There generally seems to remain a remnant of the strong and virutous. So theres always hope that we can learn the easy way instead of the hard way.
There will be plenty of people who already know and teach their kids, however, for the masses, they are doomed to repeat history.
Rome was at the highest point of excess and dependence when it fell. The term "bread and circuses" points out that time in Roman history when the leaders tried to hide the upcoming decline by entertaining the masses.
I'm sure there are other examples throughout history in different parts of the world. If we knew more about the Mayans, we might find that they did the same thing before their civilization collapsed.