I don't think I can concur that it's getting worse. There are, in fact, appalling things that are ongoing, sort of symptomology of the pandemic of violence prevalent in our society. But every generation seems to have sort of horizontal thinking. They can see no further than what was on the horizon during their lifetime. It wasn't easy being a Boomer kid. Your friends and classmates went off to war in Viet Nam (a police action, never a declared war) or undeclared actions in Cambodia, without choice, and others left for Canada after chanting hell no, we won't go. Those who served came home in pieces, or with PTSD, or in body bags to an ungrateful nation. Think Kent State and watching your peer group get shot by the government on a college campus--or spied on and reported as a traitor to our country for simply dissenting. How about don't trust anyone over 30, and living in a J. Edgar Hoover era (well, I suspect an Ashcroft era may come close, what with spying on dissenting individuals but that's for a political forum)? Students for a Democratic Society, Dr. Leary and the LSD crowd, Woodstock, Civil Rights struggles, George Wallace, and the Watts Riots. Angela Davis, the Black Panthers, and Stokley Carmichael (can I get a "Right On, My Brother"? Power to the People!), Malcom X and Dr. King. Mario at Berkeley and the Chicago Seven. Jane Fonda and Hanoi. Assassination of two Kennedys and a King. The suicide of Marilyn (Monroe--not Manson), Castro's Cuba and the Bay of Pigs, the death of Che, that "Commie Pinko" Kruschev and his infamous shoe, the Berlin Wall, and the disgrace of Thomas Eagleton when running for high office simply because he had suffered from depression. Getting sent home from school if your dress didn't meet the middle of your knee, and your hair got cut by your teacher if it touched your ears. Couldn't vote until 21. Great dissension between the young and the "Silent Majority." God was dead, and the most fatal sin of all was apathy! LBJ and his belly scar. Burning the bra for women's rights. Fighting for Roe v. Wade (and with that I'm not inviting debate on the pros or cons of abortion, so please don't start). The inaccessibility of birth control. Pregnant teens were rushed off to distant areas, hushed up, and compelled to relinquish lest they shame their family and left with lifelong wounds instead of kept at home or termination of pregnancy. We were the group following Happy Days and there was much tumult throughout our nation. When they did the remake of "What's Going On" last year, they had to take the words "Picket Signs" out of the songs because they were afraid kids of today wouldn't even know what the hell that meant. But we didn't go to Korea. Or to World War II. Or survive the Holocaust or the Great Depression. Or World War I. We had a better chance of living past 12 and not being killed by influenza or whooping cough or small pox, but we lived through vaccines for small pox and bear the ugly scars and saw our friends fall ill to polio while we rushed to get first the series of shots and then the sugar cubes. We froze during the Cold War and had regular Civil Defense drills where you dove to the floor, covered your head and hoped your ass didn't hang out in the breeze because girls HAD to wear dresses to school. Did we have it harder than kids today? Who can say? Did we have it harder than our parents? Harder, I'm afraid is subjective. We were the Make Love, Not War Generation that believed in Free Love and lived to see the consequences come back to haunt in an era of AIDS and HIV. So let's be careful about comparing generations. It's probably not a fair thing to do. --- Merri Pemberton <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I think that looking at Columbine, metal detectors > and drug dogs in schools, > and knowing of a situation where a first grader had > a pair of scissors, > gripped them in her hand with the sharp point > directed at the other student > and threatened to stab her- should give plenty > people reasons to say that > this next generation is at least a little worse. > Kids have even admitted that > they have much more to worry about than when their > parents were growing up > e.g. heightened school violence. When I was a senior > in high school (1994) we > started to see the police and drug dogs patrolling > our school, and we were a > small town school at that. So, it is getting worse. > Not every kid has serious > problems, but the problems existing in this society > are having a great impact > on the generations to come. > > Sincerely, > > Merri ===== Indigo Nights [log in to unmask] Looking for a job? Try: Check out the REVISED Got Links, your one-stop portal http://victorian.fortunecity.com/stanmer/414 Updated 02/14/02 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . 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