reply to post by Ace High
Not so fast with the blame, thank you
Yes, your generation was spoiled
Yes, your generation was encouraged to believe you could all be brain surgeons, computer-analysts -- anything in fact, other than work up a sweat or
touch anything heavier than a mouse
Yes, you ARE the sacrificed generation
Yes, your egos are immense
Yes, you were never told 'no'
Yes, your education was a farce
Yes, your dreams in many instances aren't worth a dime. BUT -- they weren't worth a time from the start. Dreams have no substance. They're ten a
penny. They usually aren't realistic
But here's an alternative to the scenario you've painted:
My children are of the same generation as yourself
In Australia, in the 80s and the 90s, we were in recession -- the recession a Prime Minister-former Treasurer informed us we 'had to have'. So
there were very few 'making a fortune' in Australia during the time you say Americans were rolling in it
Next, even though Australian education is pretty well dominated by ridiculous American theories, I stood firm and educated my kids to know the
difference between fantasy and reality (on a par with the difference between eating vegetables and eating sugary treats, basically)
I made sure they understood that commercials existed not to inform or be of benefit to anyone other than manufacturers - and that tv programmes
existed to hypnotise the viewer and render them receptive to the commercials. I made sure they understood that the Brady Bunch was a group of actors
- were not real, no matter how much people wanted them to be 'real'
No, you can't have My Little Pony. Nor can you have Bikini Barbi. They're overpriced. I don't care if everyone else in class has them.
No, you can't go to McDonalds and Waterworld this weekend. This weekend I'll be mowing the grass and clipping the hedges and you'll be cleaning up
the yard. Then, we'll go for a brisk walk down on the beach and if you're very good, you might even get an ice-cream and be allowed to stay up and
watch a video
I don't care if all your friends are wearing $299.00 Nikes. I've told you how much Nike pays its workers. $299 for basically plastic buckets with
a Nike symbol on the side is obscene and this family is not going to buckle under consumer pressure. If your friends ridicule you for not wearing
idiot Nikes, then you need to find better friends
No, Large-Bank --- I dont NOT want a credit card with $5,000 on it. I do not want it. Do not contact me again. I only spend money I already own.
Yes, old fashioned. But that way, you see, I'm not in debt to you. So get your damn claws out of me and go away
See, kids, in this family, we don't spend money that doesn't belong to us. Nor do we have a $40,000 four-wheel drive with personalised number
plate. We drive our Honda -- our bought and paid for Honda. It takes us from A to Z, just like the unpaid-for car your friends' parents hoon around
in. We can AFFORD our car. We didn't get until we COULD afford and pay for it. And THIS way, if I lose my job or break my neck, you won't be
menaced by men with no-necks, coming around to take our car away. Because it's paid for. We dont' owe anyone a cent.
And so on. I made our clothes and drapes and recovered furniture myself. I painted the house myself. NO credit cards, no debt. Our home was paid
for by 1988. Not a cent owing
Now my children are being pestered by the banks who want to advise them how to invest their savings. And they offer my kids platinum cards.
Unsolicited. Like vultures. My children did learn from my example. They save. They don't borrow. They work hard. They're thrifty. They
don't use credit cards. Their properties are paid in full.
Their education was a farce, no question. All about 'communication' and 'self esteem'. I used to suggest, when my children were in school, that
we initiate a class-action against the education department for failing to deliver on that which they promised, i.e. a sound education. But non of
the other parents were interested. They were happy just to have their kids off their hands and in school. And expected them to become brain-surgeons
and engineers and fashion models. So I hired tutors for my kids, to help fill in the gaps, and I put hours each week into helping them with the
endless and pointless 'assignments' which comprised at least 50% of the joke that was their education. Fortunately, they're well employed and
natural intelligence has substituted -- in real life -- for the rubbish they were offered as 'education'
There are millions of parents like me who didn't indulge in excess and debt, rampant consumerism, etc. But it's become trendy amongst your
generation, OP, to toss the blame onto the generation which came before.
People of your generation were encouraged (by sadists within the education departments) to
'decide what you want to be '. And of course, all
those kids developed the belief that Life is all about what you
want. My kids were a bit that way, until I told them over and over until it
sank in, that Life is rarely about what we
want and far more about what we GET. We deal with what Life hands us. That's what Life is.
That's where Life goes. You just get on with it and do your best with it. That's how character and personality are formed.
Instead, people of the younger generations like to believe that people who earn their living slitting the throats of pigs or plucking the feathers off
dead chickens at abbatoirs, do so because they 'chose that job '. NO. They did not choose it. Maybe they wanted to be fashion models and sports
stars too, when they thought Life was all about them. But they woke up. They decided any job was better than no job at all. They decided that
earning their keep was more admirable and better for their
self esteem than living on welfare and off the backs of their tax-paying
neighbours
OP, you behave as if the generation before you was handed Life on a silver platter. Why ? Is that what you've 'heard' ? Well, maybe you need to
visit your local library's achives and research life in the 30's, the 40's, the 50's, the 60's and onwards. You'll discover that the
generations before you didn't live on fast-food. Instead, they spent hours preparing the family meals from scratch. They didn't have the
technological excesses considered 'usual' by today's generation (iPods, plasmas, sat-nav, wine on tap like water, luxury apartments, overseas
travel etc). In fact, people received a wrist-watch for their 21st birthdays, or a fountain-pen set. A tv was a luxury .. tiny little black and
white models, and required to be saved for, sometimes for years. The family car was a major outlay and many didn't have one. Clothing had to last
and be handed down. People didn't have wall to wall carpeting or acres of imported tiles on their floors - they had worn lino and carpet squares.
Washing machines were primitive and often dangerous. Few synthetic fabrics -- ironging for a family used to take all day. Air conditioning was
virtually unheard of. Taking a family to the movies was a rare treat and usually had to be budgeted for
Many older people in the US continue to live that way. These are the people your generation are attempting to blame for what you consider your
problems.
OP, put the blame where it belongs: (1) on the ridiculously high expectations of your own generation and (2) on the governments and their cronies the
Big Banks, the outsourcing-manufacturers and others of that ilk
And then take a look at the calculations relating to rasing an average child from the age of zero to 18. The sum is said to be in the region of a
quarter of a million dollars. If you had parents, then raising
you to age 18 is where a big chunk of
their life and
earnings went
[edit on 14-8-2010 by Dock9]