I have some thoughts to submit to you on the youth of the world. ( The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. ) Does that sound like any children you know? Me to, but that quote was written by Socrates (469–399 B.C.) Is it not a divine bit of irony that someone should describe todays children so well over 2000 years ago? I myself have found myself looking at todays youth and wondering where their parents are and why they are not as well behaved as was I. Lets cast a bit light on the truth of the matter though. When I was a teen I was not the perfect child I would like to think myself to have been. Fact is I would often try to argue with my mom if she told me to do something I did not want to do. My brother once asked our mom why she let me get away with talking to her like I dd. He knew had he or either of my older sisters spoken to mom like I did they could have gotten smacked in the mouth or patted, but I did not. I am sure my brother saw it all as unfair, but it was my moms answer to the question that made me see why she did not punish me for talking to her like I did. She told my brother " Because Janie does everything I tell her to do." Mom went on to explain to him that I may complain about what she tells me to do BUT I did every damn thing she told me to << her words. My brother however was constantly disobeying mom. She told him not to smoke and he and my cousin did out behind the garage. They were so stupid they did not realize mom would see the smoke rising over the garage roof and send my sister to check on it. He would skip school when he was told not to. He would stay out after midnight on a beginners license what the used to call a CINDERELLA license cause you heeded to be home by midnight if you had one.
So my friends I submit to you that it is not the children that are different now then they were when we were kids it us the adults that have changed. We no longer see things through the rebellious eyes of youth we now see things as out parents did the way adults should see things. I can tell you the exact moment I began to see things as an adult would see them. It was when my sisters girls were teens and they were acting with her like I myself once acted with my mom. I did something I had sworn to myself I would never do. I turned into my Aunt Virginia. My Aunt Virginia was my moms sister and she did not like the way I talked to mom at all. Many times she would lecture both me and my younger brother about the way we acted with mom. I told myself if I ever had nieces or nephews I would never treat them like Aunt Gin treated us, but time changes things. I still remember the day I heard Aunt Gins words come out of my mouth to my nieces. I told them they should have more respect for their mom that she was good to them and they should treat her better. It was like a beam of light shining into my mind and lighting the way to my adulthood. I now understood why my Aunt Gin tried to tell us what to do. It was not because she was bossy and controlling as I once thought. It was because she loved my mom her sister and did not like how I treated her. You are truly grown up when you can see things the way your parents see them.
I got the chance to tell my Aunt that I understood her when my mom died. Aunt Gin had stopped by the house with a big fruit salad. My nieces were visiting me at the time. I had told them many times about their great Aunt and how I had said I would not be like her but I was. I called them to the kitchen and said to them this is the aunt. Aunt Gin looked at me puzzled and said this is the Aunt What? I explained to her that this was the Aunt that would give me and my brother a hard time about how we treated Mom and I thought she was just being mean but I now saw she did it cause she loved my Mom and did not like how we were treating her. Aunt Gin smiled and said That's right.
My mom used to tell us that we thought she was hard on us when we were growing up but when we were really grown up we would be glad she was so tough on us. Know what she was right. My mom raised 5 kids practically alone. My dad lived with us but he worked a lot so mom did most of the raising till dad got disabled. She did a good job because not a one of us has ever been in jail so she did something right. She taught us to respect others to always take care of your bills and to never take things that were not ours. Dad always told us do not ask for anything if someone wants you to have something they will offer it, but to never turn down things that were offered. If more parents would take a little time to teach their kids how to be adults while they still have their children's attention less people would end up in jail.
