Editorials

What have we done to our children? April 3, 2008 - No reporter cited

Jungle is wondering why so many young people have such negative views on life today.

I know what I did to my kids.

I have always been a glass half-empty type person. Everyone and everything has a motive and it is my job to figure out what they really want. I must have passed that attitude on to my children. Only my seven-year-old continues to have a cheery outlook.

Her friends can be mean to her, say ugly things about her and 15 minutes later, they are her best-friends again.  The other two hold grudges.

But, I didn’t realize that other young people had this same sour outlook on everyone and everything around them.

I read a recent school publication that was almost 50 percent ‘I am mad at the world and don’t like anyone in it’ articles. My heart broke.

I sat there and wondered ‘what have we done?’

Your high school years are suppose to be filled with happiness and excitement. It’s a time to explore and develop into who you are going to be for the rest of your life.

My negativity developed after graduation and possibly in college. I enjoyed being in high school. It was a time of many great memories.

That being said, I was already a smart alek, opinionated and full of myself. But, I had a blast in high school.

However, young people seem to be taking shots at themselves and people like themselves every chance they get.

Girls have always been concerned about the way they look and how they are preceived by the opposite sex. But, when did it become everyone else’s fault that I am not the perfect size 4 or my hairstyle hasn’t been popular since the mid 90’s.

Young ladies need to take pride in themselves and the things that make them different.

We [men] don’t want to admit it, but we all don’t want to date and marry Paris Hilton or any other movie star for that matter. Those women intimidate us. What we really want is someone that likes us for who we are and not who they think we will be when we are rich and famous.

If you want to be like a movie star and have the money to live that lifestyle - go for it, but don’t bash others for aspiring to be more than they are right now.

Young people also seem to make broad assumptions about others.

When you go to church, don’t assume everyone believes the sameway that you do.

When I go to a ballgame, I don’t assume everyone sitting around me is cheering for the same team that I am. And, they happen to be rooting for thier favorite team and not mine, that’s really is ok. It’s not going to change the effect of the world’s gravitational pull.

Young people, we are all different. We need to imbrace our differances. I have tried my whole life not to be like everyone else. Being different gets you noticed.

So I hope we help our kids cheer up and enjoy life maybe they are hearing us complain to much at home about work, co-workers and the direction of the
country that we can’t change.

But, hey that is just my view from the canopy of the jungle.

Don’t worry; be happy.

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