I would disagree about the war and bravery comparison,
In WW2, soldiers had to kill other soldiers literall face to face, or at a much closer distance than we see today. Today, we have bombs, missiles, and technology that guys in the 40’s didn’t have.
I also disagree with your idea that mental work was or is more mental. As cave people (which we still are biologically), we still work to solve the problems that we face on a day to day basis. We want/need to feed, clothe, protect, and provide for ourselves and our tribes. Whether that is done by plowing a field or playing Mah-Jong all day in a cubicle are the only things that have changed. Tech has made it less physically strenuous to make a living, but the want and need to make a living are the same.
[quote]legendaryblaze wrote:
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Bambi,
Your generation has not had to learn what it means to work for something, not nearly to the extent that older generations have. You kids would have never made it through our grandparents age, shit I don’t know if I could have made it through that.
With the advent of technology, each passing generation gets it easier, but I think nowadays, you kids being tortured means taking away your cellphone or Ipod. Many of us older guys had our asses beaten, worked jobs from our teenage years, and when the shit hit the fan, the only thing we got was a sympathy look.
My dad, still to this day, even in his 60’s could outwork kids half his age (me included). I have a great uncle who is 83, who just got back from visiting his mother in Italy, she is 102. It is my belief that more than it being a product of the individual, it is more a product of the time and generation of people. Because they have had to struggle for so many years, and from such a young age, they have had their work ethic ingrained in them permanently. [/quote]
This is incorrect.
It’s like saying WW2 soldiers were much more brave than today’s soldiers because today we use “safer” methods of combat (insertion via helicopter, etc - instead of storming a beach en masse).
The face of war has changed, as has life. Blame or thank technology.
Today, work is much less physical and much more mental.
The sheer amount of mental work, that kids have to cope with, today, is beyond what it was several decades ago.
5 decades ago, having a degree in anything meant you were pretty much a genius. A masters meant you were top tier and a PhD meant you were a God.
Today, everyone is expected to have a university degree and you need at least a masters to land a decent job.
Life is still difficult. It is still challenging. The difference is the nature of those challenges.[/quote]