[quote]ephrem wrote:
<<< …i don’t know Trib, ‘The Waltons’ was a sappy t.v. show, not reality. My mother was born in 1940, she has 7 siblings. My father was born in 1934 and he had 10 siblings. Their parents worked their fingers to the bone in factories and cleaning jobs to make ends meet, and they weren’t in a position to pay much attention to their children. As a result both my parents are screwy in the head. I can imagine it wasn’t much different over there in the US…
…but thenagain, i agree with the fact that bad parenting is the underlying cause of many of the problems that exist nowadays with kids. You can’t expect parents who were not raised right themselves, to raise their kids right. This is a vicious circle that, imo, did not just start with the dissolving of the family nucleus, tough that definitly contributed to the problem…
…but honestly, things weren’t better in the olden days. In many respects our parents and grandparents were much worse off than we are, or our children are. They too faced many of the same problems we’re having now, just on a smaller scale. With so many people living on the same landmass, everything is magnified…
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I’m referring specifically to the United States and no, no human society has ever been or ever will be perfect or even close.
[quote]John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756:
It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.[/quote]
Howver there was a time in this country when crime was a fraction of what it is now, particularly horrific crime was nigh non existent and any instance of it was eye popping news and a national scandal.
Just about anybody who was willing bust their ass could improve their circumstances and the motivation of doing so for the good of a family that they loved was a major motivation.
Faithfulness, honesty, self control and RESPONSIBILITY were public virtues even when not always privately upheld. Children grew up in this environment learning that this was right and good and that was wrong and bad. The 60’s destroyed the conscience of this nation culminating in the sick and depraved notion that the murdering of the very children that were once celebrated as a blessing was now a right and symbol of advancement.
This is only one issue and I don’t even talk about it that much here, but it is a perfect example. When children grow up in a society where the most solemn of human responsibilty, the conception and nurturing of a new life is viewed as an imposition on their “freedom” to live a debauched and commitment free existence, so much so that killing it is seen as a legal and accepted option, make no mistake, that powerful lesson will effect the rest of their lives and their interaction with others.
