It's probably a sign that I'm getting old, when thoughts along the lines of 'it never used to be like this years ago' come into my mind, but something that's happened in the last hour or so have sent my consciousness into 'boring old fart' mode. People often bemoan the ills of society, and come up with all sorts of schemes, very often completely harebrained and impractical, and usually reactionary - two of my colleagues at work the other day were discussing the merits of reintroducing National Service to 'tame' the 'youth of today', in spite of the fact that they were at least twenty years too young to ever have had to do it themselves - but, for all that, there does seem to me to be one element lacking in contemporary life that was perhaps more prevalent when I was growing up, namely courtesy. Thinking of other people's perspective before you act, of how your behaviour will affect those around you. It seems to me that courtesy waned a lot in the 1980's, with the 'greed is good' kind of philosophy that the Thatcher government espoused, leading to a 'grab what you can for yourself' mindset, where riding roughshod over anyone getting in your way seemed to be positively encouraged. Those who grew up in that era are now, twenty years or so on, today's parents of young families, and what sort of role model are they? Not all that spectacular, in a lot of cases. Hence my 'curmudgeon of the day' bid today, I guess - someone who has recently moved into another room in the same accommodation as me has had visitors this evening, including a couple of small children, little more than toddlers, really. Rather than actively looking after the kids, the mother has basically just let them run riot in the building, charging up and down the corridors and shouting. It appears not to have occurred to this woman that there might be other people around who might appreciate a bit less mayhem, or maybe it has occurred to her, but it's just too much trouble to actually engage the children and interact with them. All the parenting skills of the average cuckoo. Oh well, rant over. But it would be nice if people sometimes did think of others, and of the consequences of their actions, or inactions.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
You could tell them that it's all the fault of (a) Rupert Murdoch, and (b) right wing religious types in the Republican Party in the US, Italy, the Middle East and in Australian politics.
ReplyDeleteIf they can begin to understand that lot they'll stop talking about militarising our kids. In most parts of Britain we have the best educated and most civilised generation of young people we've (possibly) ever had.
If the same resources and opportunities were available in all areas of Britain then we could have decent and nice youngsters everywhere.
If we wanted another generation to grow up beating their wives and kids and carrying guns for fun then just bring back military service.
But then you see, I don't watch 'Britain's Got' or 'Apprentice' or any of the soaps and I don't read 'the popular press'.
Oh Sammy,
ReplyDeleteHow can you ask of young parents that they set boundaries for their children when they themselves were educated in "unlimited freedom". The misunderstood and incorrectly applied "antiautoriäre education" shows its fruits nowadays. Add to that the egocentric self-indulgence of the young generation who only has "fun, party and shopping" in their head. Look at Scotty - Ms. Bachmann called humanity as "socialist" and rejects it.
Hello Micky
ReplyDeleteI agree with you totally that old-style National Service or any 'modernised' version of it would be completely counter-productive. It would simply penalise the vast majority who, as you say, are perfectly civilised, while the feral few would probably just abscond and join some kind of criminal underclass anyway. When you add the damage that would be done by the regimentation and the normalisation of violence that you suggest, and it should be clear to anyone who thinks rather than reacting that the idea is a total non-starter. It's just another example of 'politics by soundbite', pandering to harrumphing 'Middle Englanders'.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B
Hello
ReplyDeleteI was a child in 1960's Britain and a teen in the seventies, so I hardly grew up in an authoritarian environment, but I was still taught to show some consideration to other people rather than just blithely doing my own thing no matter what, and I've tried to raise my daughter in the same way, seemingly with a reasonable degree of success (although she is still only 13, and could conceivably 'go off the rails' yet). It doesn't seem to me to be beyond the wit of man to bring children up to think of other people without having to resort to beating them into submission, it's just a matter of talking to them and explaining why they should or shouldn't behave in a particular way rather than simply issuing unsupported prohibitions that tend to be ignored. That approach takes a certain amount of time and effort, though, which is where, doubtless, the scenario fails in many cases - it's too much trouble for the parents.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B