Comments on WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR WORLD?

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Adnohr

I seem to have gotten in the tail end here, but having read all the comments and your replies, I'd like to say, I like your positive, constructive attitude!  The young will prevail, they have to! gotta believe it!  Thank you for the thought provoking post!

posted by KaBooM62 on September 22, 2009 at 9:54 PM | link to this | reply

Thank you all so much for your comments.

I enjoy discussions like this - one can always learn something, if we agree or not. You guys are great!!

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 6:12 AM | link to this | reply

Merkie,

We do have a beautiful planet. I believe that we are waking up and paying attention - none more so than the generation who is coming behind us. I think most of them know exactly how to deal with the media and its hype, probably because they are more aware than we could ever have been in our days before the information highway was available. There are always a few bad apples in the barrel, and rot always smells stronger than perfume. However, signs point to a rise in spirituality. You and TAPS, and Sam, among others in here, are definitely contributing with your beautiful words and images in poetry. It is food for our souls, whose nourishment is as important as that for our minds.

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 6:08 AM | link to this | reply

Re: What's happening to our world?

Thank you, elinjo. I also think it would be a sad loss if children did not have access to those wonderful bible stories. If nothing else, they do teach love and respect and compassion.

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:54 AM | link to this | reply

You're right, Sam444

But we know that, in the end, each of us WILL be held accountable for our actions. There is no avoiding that in the long run. What's unfortunate is that a child, such as your neighbor's, will have to go through much needless hassle before learning the lesson, and this because her parents shirked the responsibility of teaching her. The parents will also share the pain in one way or another. If she's lucky, the girl will learn as she grows and has to deal with people who are not so indulgent as her parents. There is also technology which, although a curse in some ways, also lays out hours of self-help, and it is available to anyone who needs it. You'd be surprised at how many kids use it and heed it.

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:52 AM | link to this | reply

I agree, Nautikos

It is a complex problem, but hasn't youth always been a problem? It is, after all, our next generation, and we worry that they won't get it right...as our parents did before us, and theirs before them....

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:39 AM | link to this | reply

Beautiful...and truthful..quotation, TAPS!

Even if I'm not a great believer in chance. I tend to think everything happens for a reason. It is true that we are more aware today than we were yesterday when something happens, thanks to technology, which could mean that our youth is not worse than it was years ago; just that we hear about it now.

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:37 AM | link to this | reply

Re: I saw that Andy Rooney commentary, and I agreed with him.

Pat-B, I agree that common courtesy and manners as we knew them are lacking in today's world, even among those who mean well. It seems that many parents left out that part while rearing their young. However, after so many years of reading about and experiencing turmoil caused by our youth, I do find that most of the present generation (ages from 10 to 20, for example) are wising up and paying attention, and asking questions. Maybe my glasses are rose-tinted?

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:31 AM | link to this | reply

Auslander

I'm not sure - here in Canada guns are not so accessible. I still think that most of our youth are good, and getting better. Of course, the bad ones get much more press!!

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:22 AM | link to this | reply

BC-A

Yep, nothing like a long chat with an old friend. Our stories get funnier with each glass of wine, and the cheese just helps us finish the bottle, LOL!

posted by adnohr on September 19, 2009 at 5:20 AM | link to this | reply

I think we all have a place to bring the world into perspective and without a spiritual belief we are empty of the moral values ...therefore as the God we choose is ignored and the family unit is broken how are the young to learn to appreciate the peace. Media presents a perverted picture in entertainment and truth and consequence does not seem just anymore. The sensitive person is indeed fighting the battle by being compassionate and kind. THe world is weary and war torn and on the brink of Unquestionable sorrow if we do not wake up!We have a most beautiful planet to enjoy and respect Thank God!

posted by merkie on September 16, 2009 at 9:34 AM | link to this | reply

What's happening to our world?

If children are badly behaved it is often because their parents fail to make clear where the limits lie. It seems to me that in practice good parenting does not necessarily have any thing to do with whether the parents believe in God or are members of a church or other religious institution. Even if we do not believe in God, we accept the good common sense rules in the 10 Commandments; if we didn't then society would break down.

posted by elinjo on September 16, 2009 at 9:09 AM | link to this | reply

Graham's daughter's answer is so on the mark! It was a moving essay! There are so many things that kids have access to today that I firmly believe they are living in a world other than reality! Their peers on television act up, they act up; hell, I know women in their 40's who watch Hannah Montana! I absolutely give! For me, parents are not doing their job because it has become a materialistic world {and materials, idols of human-kind always replace the Lord, no one can serve two masters}! My neighbor has a young girl under the age of 5 and I can hear through the fence, she dominates her mother now, what the heck can the future hold for this child!? My son's fiance dominates everyone in her path who will allow it because she is an 'I' person! I say, good luck with parenting! Bottom line for me is leniency is absconding responsibility in holding chilren, youths, and teenagers accountable for actions and words! sam

posted by sam444 on September 15, 2009 at 7:57 PM | link to this | reply

adnohr

I read Stein's piece some time ago, and said, Amen! But it's a complex problem with complex causes. The 'decay' of organized religion is just one of them. For a short answer I'll simply second Pat...

posted by Nautikos on September 15, 2009 at 6:32 PM | link to this | reply

You ask, "What's happening to our world?"
I say, "Time & Chance," that, plus population multiplication, increase of knowledge, and the wonders of modern technology.  How on earth could the world remain the same for hundreds of years?  But, I take comfort in the fact that I believe that God is still in control.
"The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all." ~Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NIV Bible)

posted by TAPS. on September 15, 2009 at 4:20 PM | link to this | reply

I saw that Andy Rooney commentary, and I agreed with him.

Thanks to Dr. Spock's philosophy, there's a boatload of unhealthy narcississm in society that borders on child worship. Kids grow up with a sense of entitlement unheard of two generations ago, thinking they have the absolute right to whatever they want. As time goes on, anyone who crosses them faces the possibility of violent retribution.

There's less order, less respect for hierarchy, and all too often when a school shooting or other antisocial outrage happens, nobody's in charge, nobody's responsible. So few people use courtesy or manners in dealing with others that it's remarkable when someone does.  "Hell in a handbasket" is an apt description...

posted by Pat_B on September 15, 2009 at 5:57 AM | link to this | reply

I think that maybe, just maybe, part of the problem in school in the USA with kids killing others with gun is that they have easy access to guns, no?! And it's not all happy-happy in the bible either. Religion should not be in school. It should not be part of a curriculum. It is a very personal thing and should stay with the individuals.

posted by auslander on September 15, 2009 at 4:57 AM | link to this | reply

 These are a kind of pleasant time for wine and cheese exactly. BC-A, Bill’s RJJst

posted by BC-A on September 15, 2009 at 4:21 AM | link to this | reply