Todays Troubled Youth

Quote attributed to Peter the Hermit 1274 A D

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of
today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as
if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is
foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest
and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

Funny isn't it? For centuries, elders have always been critical of the young, with Google it was easy to find several examples in support of my observation. I too have been guilty of it. Perhaps it is a rite of passage into AARPdom? No, now I'm blame shifting. I do it because it is what we ol...um...mature people do.

I was reading blogs relating to internet behavior, most were written by people 35-60 years of age. The blogs were critical of young people and their behavior, especially as it relates to the internet. Some of these people, particularly in the few blogs and responses I've read, have pictures posted of themselves in various states of undress. Others have pages with pictures of themselves striking various " come hither" poses. We never see it in ourselves, do we? I had a 59 year old woman tell me that a man whom she had met on the net and dated, emailed her a picture of his " little soldier." Lends a whole new meaning to " site member." It's not something that is specific to a certain age group.

At any rate, the world will survive. Elders have always thought the young disrespectful, conversely the young have thought the elders out of touch. I'm reminded of the song " We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. Especially that part of the chorus that goes " we didn't start the fire, it was always burnin' since the world's been turnin' "...

When I research a subject such as this, I find I always learn something.
Until today, I thought Peter the Hermit was Peter Noone peace to all...John