Having spent two weeks on the road attending ML ballgames in 7 different MLB parks, and then going to the Minnesota State Fair yesterday, THREE things have become very apparent to me.
1) The Tattoo Parlors in our country are a thriving business.
2) People obviously don't have mirrors in their homes.
Having spent two weeks on the road attending ML ballgames in 7 different MLB parks, and then going to the Minnesota State Fair yesterday, THREE things have become very apparent to me.
1) The Tattoo Parlors in our country are a thriving business.
2) People obviously don't have mirrors in their homes.
3) It's become a Leper Colony out there!
LOL
..........the best places to visit anymore are the backyard and maybe upstairs if it`s early enuff and you still have a sandwich or a few M&Ms in your pocket
Having spent two weeks on the road attending ML ballgames in 7 different MLB parks, and then going to the Minnesota State Fair yesterday, THREE things have become very apparent to me.
1) The Tattoo Parlors in our country are a thriving business.
2) People obviously don't have mirrors in their homes.
3) It's become a Leper Colony out there!
LOL
..........the best places to visit anymore are the backyard and maybe upstairs if it`s early enuff and you still have a sandwich or a few M&Ms in your pocket
LOL, I'm inclined to agree with you. Honestly, my head is going to eventually roll off my shoulders from shaking, as I witness all the oddities walking amongst us. It's like attending a Circus freak show everyday. I'm telling you, it's scary out there!
@georgeschire Yes I shake my head at many of the things I see with this generation. Obviously this is a statement made from generation to generation but it seems different this time around. Some of the unhealthy looking specimens I see walking around, fixed to their phones, speaking some distorted form of English, f-bombs in every second sentence with no regard to who hears them, etc, etc. These folks are often parents of young children too, yet they act the same around them. Obviously not all of them are like this; there are all kinds of lovely people out there of all ages doing great things....but my gosh there are an awful lot of the others too. I despair at the lack of class and respect displayed, including self respect. I worry about where it is headed and how it will end.....I don't feel positive I'm afraid; I wish I did but I do not. I feel really sorry for them actually; somewhere along the way they seem to have gotten lost. It seems that as a society we have failed them.
Some among us may have gathered I work in fashion. Contrary to some belief, the industry thrives in a culture of self worth and aspirational application. When people have the opportunity to get up, go to work; feel a sense of pride in themselves and wish to express that in their appearance, the industry does well. It is a barometer of social well-being, in which the nail and tattoo, quick-fix 'image' parlours play no role. It all goes back to worth-while employment and circulation of capital. Sorry to sound like a scratched record cum socialist, (I maybe the former, but not the latter). And sorry to be political but that is what is happening out there: it is surrender to a perceived futility.
@georgeschire Yes I shake my head at many of the things I see with this generation. Obviously this is a statement made from generation to generation but it seems different this time around. Some of the unhealthy looking specimens I see walking around, fixed to their phones, speaking some distorted form of English, f-bombs in every second sentence with no regard to who hears them, etc, etc. These folks are often parents of young children too, yet they act the same around them. Obviously not all of them are like this; there are all kinds of lovely people out there of all ages doing great things....but my gosh there are an awful lot of the others too. I despair at the lack of class and respect displayed, including self respect. I worry about where it is headed and how it will end.....I don't feel positive I'm afraid; I wish I did but I do not. I feel really sorry for them actually; somewhere along the way they seem to have gotten lost. It seems that as a society we have failed them.
People ask all the time, "How did this breakdown in our society happen?". They also ask, "What do we need to do?". Sadly, the answer to both questions is the same. The breakdown has been happening for the last couple of decades with the acceptance of non-married parents, same sex marriages, kids with no fathers in their lives, or worse not even knowing who their fathers are. Kids today didn't have traditional and good role-models, as they grew up alone with no supervision or guidelines. They also have not been held accountable for bad behavior. Fifty-three years ago when I graduated from high school, if I'd have been told the world would be in the decay it is today, I'd not have believed it. The word "Freedom" in our constitution has been completely taken out of context, and society is running amok. I fear that the downtrend is only going to get worse, and honestly, it's hard to fathom that it can get worse than it already is.
@charles-rockett Interesting commentary Charles. I too see the "sense of futility" you describe and the accompanying sense of powerlessness and anger many of them display or express in their attitudes. I also have felt their animosity towards our perceived "wealthy" generation and what, they believe, we have allowed to happen. Consider just a few..... the state of our environment, dishonest politics, an economy that serves the wealthy over the have-nots, the once preventable permeation of drugs and the resulting mental health and homelessness crisis, declining health care, career and good paying job opportunities lost to foreign manufacturing outsourcing, big box retail eroding traditional family run businesses and the resulting village shop vacancies changing once vibrant communities, and on and on it goes. I don't agree that we intentionally permitted any of this to occur individually; of course we didn't as we care about the mess we are in as much as they do....but we will wear it because it has happened "on our watch".
LOL! Well, of course, our generation never defied social norms or rebelled against authority.
IMHO there was a lot of both good and bad that resulted from the changing times of our youth in the 60s and 70s. Many really important social inequities were identified, which thankfully remain a work in progress. My biggest regret of our generation is the beginning of the exposure to drugs, given what it has evolved to and the damage created. The many thousands of lives lost or otherwise destroyed yearly is staggering....and getting worse every year.
Well said, Jack. But, I'm firmly of the opinion that we had the opportunity to change the world. Wasn't that the chant of our time, "We can change the world!"? Well, we did. And this is what we made of it. The youth of today would not be where they were if we were not the youth of our generation. I'm not saying it's all good to that I even like it.
But these are the children we raised. We opened doors that are nearly impossible to shut. We stretched all the definitions of normalcy to their limits. Do we not expect our children to do the same? We offended the older generation by everything we did and said. Are we now surprised that those who came after us have learned to do the same? It should be hard to judge others for doing what we did so well.
@jkuvakas I do agree with what you say about how our generation collectively dropped the ball John. What I definitely came to realize, mainly because of my policing career responding to the social condition, was that very many social issues that have now become almost epidemic in our society were railed against by very well intentioned individuals, citizen and professional groups and the media. It seems that for the most part all we got in return was a bunch of political double-talk and lies. Our political processes that traditionally made progress in previous generations, motivated by the will of the parties to make a credible difference and by responding to citizen concerns, now seem to be almost completely focused on getting re-elected. It seems to be quickly spiraling to the point where government agencies are being weaponized to discredit opponents, media has been undermined and has lost it's duty to report the news objectively, and on and on. There is a huge sense of government betrayal and an increasing lack of trust in it....and it is damned well deserved.
Like JK correctly suggests, I will also get off my soap box now and leave this political conversation where it belongs. It is healthy to toss it around a bit though, like it or not.
@georgeschire Jack and George I agree with you both and might I throw in a lack of self -respect and respect for others. Maybe a lack of respect for others is something I'm guilty of. My wife and I have no children not by design, it just didn't happen. My lack of respect comes from watching the sperm donors and recipients not taking the time to raise their kids and give them the basics probably because they didn't have them from their parents. Too bad but by taking God out of our society, we have no chance of regaining what we have now lost.
@georgeschire Jack and George I agree with you both and might I throw in a lack of self -respect and respect for others. Maybe a lack of respect for others is something I'm guilty of. My wife and I have no children not by design, it just didn't happen. My lack of respect comes from watching the sperm donors and recipients not taking the time to raise their kids and give them the basics probably because they didn't have them from their parents. Too bad but by taking God out of our society, we have no chance of regaining what we have now lost.
Yes....the absence of faith is ultimately terminal to any society. I shudder to think of what it will take to reset our priorities back where they belong. History tells us it will likely be catastrophic.
@jack-dodds@jkuvakasTwo important and thought provoking posts from experienced and observant men. I was not old enough to understand what was happening in the 1960s (though seeing the collapse of colonialism is an insight in itself). Firstly Jack, the joke: yes, the characters in your pictures look ghastly. And yet to buy that stuff from Carnaby Street or the Kings Road would not have been cheap. Nor would trips to Kathmandu to hang-out with gurus. Perhaps there was an intellectual - grounded even - element to the flower revolution. A part of which was seeing, and starting to reverse historic inequities for which we should all be grateful. Life is better for many people as a result. Related to this point, John, I feel that the drug epidemic is more akin to 19th. century opium wars than poor parental oversight. We see among today's educated youngsters, a restraint unimaginable for previous generations, yet among the less well educated and/or those whose employment prospects look grim, lethal drugs are cheap and readily available on every corner. I wonder how much exposure these poor souls have had to the ethics of the peace and flower generation. And how much to the ethics of competing for jobs, housing and on-line hate. Certainly my first knowledge of the opioid epidemic in America related to the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma rather than errant parents.
My apologies for opining about something I have no experience of. I admit my knowledge of the issues is second hand.
Fingers can always be pointed at those who we feel caused the problem, and I'm not saying that my/our generation isn't guilty of being too liberal with what we gave or didn't give to the kids we raised. What I do know though is that the majority kept electing politicians that were (and are) more liberal then they should be. In the interest of trying to make everyone equal in our society, we no longer are able to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do. The police are now the enemy, while the younger generation has taken God's words and either not read them or have failed to learn what the words mean. And with the lack of respect, accountability, and hard work, our world is on a downward spiral. One I'm afraid we will never recover from. Okay, I too, am off my soapbox.
