What did that kid say?

We have apparently lost the need for civility in this country. Or at least the need to teach our children civility. When did it become OK for children to be rude, inconsiderate and down right mean to their elders? And anyone else for that matter. Parents in today’s age don’t seem to care that their children don’t have manners. I don’t understand it. If there was one thing I was taught as a child, and there were actually many, it was to respect my elders. Parents today have decided that this is not an important lesson to teach their children. Although for the life of me, I can’t figure out what they are teaching their children. Maybe it is just the kids in urban areas who are rude, crass and generally assholes¹, but I doubt it.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not living in the past. I know the world has changed, children have changed and parents have changed. However, I grew up in a two parent working household (before all households were this way), in a not so great neighborhood (it was and is the ghetto), but my parents still taught me some valuable lessons in life – sometimes the hard way. I never disrespected my elders, I always did everything right the first time, and I was always behaved in public. Kids today don’t know what respect is, don’t do anything that doesn’t have a game controller attached and act like jerks in public.

I have a hard time criticizing parents, as, although I am one, I have always been a part time parent. I was a parent at a very young age, but only for a few years. After that, I was always the go and visit parent or the talk on the phone parent (and not often enough). I was only an every day parent for Nick when he was a baby and for a year when he was a teenager. He was already a good kid and pretty well mannered. He did not learn those lessons from me. I am not sure he learned much of anything from me actually. I am grateful that my ex did a good job of raising him, but to be honest, I think Nick was always a good kid. We would have had to seriously fick up for him to turn out bad. Maybe some parents aren’t that lucky. Maybe they don’t get children with the personality that I did. Maybe their kids don't have the want to please attitude, even as a teenager, or the sensitive to other people and their surroundings personality. But you know what, you all decided to be parents, so buck up and start doing a better job.

There are many things that disturb me about today’s society. The lack of respect we all seem to have toward each other, the indifference to human life (I should just say life as we treat all life indifferently), the racial bias I still see and hear, the greed that seems inherent in human nature, the lack of understanding for our fellow man², the heroes we have or don’t have – all of these are quite disturbing. But the one thing that disturbs me the most about our society - what this generation we are raising now will teach their children?

"I weep for the future." Maitre D' - Ferris Beuller's Day Off

1: For all of my family member who read this site, I am not talking about any the 15 nieces and nephews I have, although…
2: Man is used here in a general sense meaning all humans. Don’t get your dander up and don’t send any hate mail. Try to focus on the point of the rant.