The other day, as I was returning home near 1 am, a group of young people, probably in their early twenties, were standing on the sidewalk across the street as I turned onto the main drag through our sleepy little coastal town. At first glance, I barely even noticed them, as I was tired after 12 hours and looking forward to relaxing at home. However, just as I began approaching them, a number of young men and woman started out onto the street, laughing and looking my way. Then, without further ado, they turned around and mooned me, a total stranger, taking supreme and giddy glee in the rather cheeky act. So, why would I even mention such an insignificant and childish act? After all, I was driving by, and it was all over in less than a moment. The reason is that as I drove home, I thought about what might inspire a group of normal young adults to get their jollies lighting up the cool coastal night for strangers with their gleaming little buttocks. The answer is, the act was caused by the same mentality that you hear spoken by young people in communities everywhere these days: "There's nothing to do!" I've lived in or visited many communities over the years, and have heard the same expression many times - young people and parents complaining that there's nothing to do in their community. We build arenas, skateboard bowls, rec centres, swimming pools, hiking trails, theatres and more, but there's "nothing to do" in our communities. What's wrong with this picture? It's simple. The mentality today is that rather than creating entertainment, everyone is saying, "Entertain me!" Laziness is rampant, and young people want everything done for them, including their personal amusement. I've personally never been bored. There's more to do in any place I've ever lived than there's time to do! In fact, I've found that people who have lived in a community all their lives often don't even know what's in their area. They don't know where the hiking trails are, where the good campsites are, where the hidden fishing holes are, where that road goes, what's at the top of that big rock, what the inside of their library looks like, who's singing at the community theatre this week, and the list goes on and on. Unless someone is laying it all out for them and organizing their fun, they're completely lost. Gone, today, is the adventurous spirit of youth, unless it's first sparked by alcohol or drugs (as was most likely the case with those youngsters on the street that night.) Imagination in many, if not most young people is dead, and they're completely lost if no one is laying their entertainment right in their laps. Perhaps we could begin to help by putting some pressure on our governments to quit experimenting with out kids, and go back to teaching the three R's, promoting healthy competition, and actually rewarding kids for accomplishing something and standing out above their peers. Parents, too, can challenge their kids to strive for excellence, to create their own fun, and to look for adventure, rather than sitting for hours with a gamebox or TV in front of them. (What a horrible waste of time!) As I said earlier, I've never been bored. (OK - except for a very short time with a mindless job I once had.) The reason is that my parents strongly encouraged me to succeed, to use my imagination, and to create my own entertainment, and to work. My siblings, friends and I spent hours acting out great adventures inspired by books that we actually read ourselves! (what a scary thought for modern kids!) As we got older, we explored the area around us, hiked, camped, canoed, fished and swam, even slogging through the snow in the winter time in search of new areas yet undiscovered by our enthusiastic quests. We also enjoyed concerts, plays, music fests, flee markets, parades, our local library, and much, much more. When we weren't out creating our entertainment, we (horror of horrors!) had CHORES to do! Yes, we actually cleaned our own rooms, washed dishes, helped clean the house, mowed the grass, washed the car, chopped firewood, worked in the garden, mended or built fences, and whatever else needed doing that we were capable of doing. We simply didn't have time in between to be bored. Where is our modern, Western society headed? What will these young people be like when it's their turn to run things? Will we able to even function as a society? Hopefully, the answer is yes, and perhaps, even, our young people will see what a mess the thinking of the latter half of the twentieth century has made of our world and do an about face. That is, if they set the gameboy down long enough to take a look around. God bless, Dave

Hi, Dave, Like a lone voice echoing through the wilderness, you are doomed to go unheard. The conspiracy to dumb our children has succeeded beyong the wildest dreams of its initiators. The establishment has successfully abolished initiative and without that, all else is froth. What hope do our children have when they are jeered for knowing an answer? What hope do our children have when they are encouraged to conform only to the lowest common denominator? What hope do our children have when a parent can be physically ejected from a school for challenging a teachers 'right' to fail to teach? What hope do our children have when the first they find out about the nasty, competitive world in which they live is with their very first job application? What hope do so many of our children have when the only role models they have are the parents who have failed them so miserably? The elite have ensured there will be few challenges to their position for the foreseeable future. And we let them do it! We must have blinked.

Hi Art, I don't feel completely alone when I can stand shoulder to shoulder with people like you, Gary Simpson, Linda Caroll, and others! Our company may be small, but it's good company. ========================================================= The elite have ensured there will be few challenges to their position for the foreseeable future. And we let them do it! ============================================================= Yes, this is so true. The public education system is THE most powerful tool the elite have to secure their position. It's no accident that children are taught from a very early age, and right through university if they go that far, what to believe, rather than how to think. I find it sadly amusing that I am often accused of being brainwashed by my parents (so untrue, as can easily be seen by the many debates I have with both my parents!). My accusers are the very people who have been so perfectly brainwashed by a system that has cleverly wiped out all vestiges of free thought from their minds, while instilling in them the false belief that they're free thinkers! Yes, we let them do it, but it may now be too late to stop them, as those who keep them in power (the voters, in most cases) have come up through the system and BELIEVE that the system and its leaders are basically good. It has been very strongly demonstrated in this country (Canada) during our last election. During the campaign, the ruling party was buried in scandal, ran a campaign of continuous obvious lies and fearmongering, and ALMOST won again, while common sense dictated that they should have been wiped out. It's seems that it doesn't matter what our leaders do as long as they continue to tell the people what they already believe (which is what the system has taught them.) I think the only reason the ruling party lost their position was that there were still enough people left who could think for themselves. In the future, that may not happen. I shudder to think of the consequences, as the arrogance of the leadership in this country has been sickening for most of the last half century. Free thinking parents are the ones who have the greatest opportunity to do something about this travesty, by taking the time to teach their children to think for themselves, too. I hope they wake up before it's too late. God bless, Dave

Dave. Both yourself & Arthur have hit the proverbial nail on the head with this forum thread. As you say, youngsters always say they are bored, but then their parents do nothing to get them out & about, finding things to do. We of the 'older generation' did not have parents who had the 'luxury' of sticking us in front of a T.V. to keep us quiet, as quite frankly, most of us did not have a T.V. in our homes until we were older, then it was Black & White, with a choice of two channels that finished at around 9.30/10.00PM. So, our parents had to find things to occupy our minds, or as the saying goes, 'The Devil finds work for idle hands' which is correct in more ways than one. Chores, as you quite rightly say, was one of the many ways that our parents found to keep us amused (it also gave them time to be 'private'). As we got older, the chores got more, so we had to find other things to do (mostly to escape doing more chores). I well remember exploring the whole of the countryside around our little village. All the local kids knew where the best places to collect berries & nuts were, we all knew where we could find mushrooms to pick in the autumn (& which were poisonous). The best places to go 'ferreting' for rabbits, the best places to fish, the best orchards with the sweetest apples & the slowest, or more tolerant owners. The excitment of Saturday morning pictures, in the 'big town', the long waited summer 'trip's to the sea', helping the local farmers bring in the crops when they were ripe & the harvest suppers at the end of the season. Sledging down the steepest hill in the winter snows on home made (badly) constructions which even we considered 'dangerous' (empty fertilizer sacks where the best). We had so much to do from dawn to dusk when we were not at school that the days just did not seem long enough & darkness came to quick, unless we were camping out in the fields, then we could hardly wait for dark so that we could cook our supper's around the camp fire & tell storys to scare the youngsters. Yes we were trusted to be out without adult supervision, because we had proved we were trustworthy. All the parents knew all the kids in the area, so you could not do anything without someone telling your parents, so after getting caught once, you did not make the same mistake again. Now like Arthur posted, you cannot question schools, you cannot report childish offences (if you do, the next one normally is not so childish & aimed at YOU). If the entertainment is not hygenically wrapped & comes with a govt seal of approval, then it's not allowed in households. Our children , or our childrens, children are losing all the wonders of childhood that we of the older generation had. The most worrying thing, to me anyway, is that those children will grow up to run this world one day. Your Security Friend in Las Vegas.

Oh Dave, Part of what you said here touches on one of my favourite subjects. But first, you said to Art: =================== "I don't feel completely alone when I can stand shoulder to shoulder with people like you, Gary Simpson, Linda Caroll, and others! Our company may be small, but it's good company." =================== Thanks Dave. That was a nice thing to say. Check us out though. We are all roughly the same age - LOL! We have deep-rooted "inbred" values and principles. Er, I bet you hate (c)rap music too! Forget the "mooning." That is just abberant behaviour - dopey stuff, possibly fuelled by alcohol or, dare I say it? - Choofing the stink weed or popping some dumb pills. The relevant paragraph in your post for me was this: ===================== "It's simple. The mentality today is that rather than creating entertainment, everyone is saying, "Entertain me!" Laziness is rampant, and young people want everything done for them, including their personal amusement." ===================== Yes! Yes! Yes! Entertain me. Success me over! Make me a star! Make me famous! I want it all. I want it now. And I want it three bags full! Let me speak from experience... For more than 35 years I have studied karate. I have reached a very high rank over a long and continous period of time through extreme discipline and a lot of hard work, not to mention some nasty injuries along the way. During that time I have seen so many "hopefuls" come and go. They desperately want that black belt but so many of them do not have what it takes (inside) to achieve it. It's getting worse. I could make a lot of money - and I mean a LOT of money by allowing people to train for a short while then pushing them through the ranks. But I won't! Earn it or leave is my stance. I don't award false rank for little or no effort. Naturally, 99% of people leave. Too bad, some of them had a lot of natural talent but very little discipline and a complete unwillingness to work hard - ie sweat and pain. It is the same in business. Most people these days want to sit behind a desk, read the paper, drink endless cups of coffee and go outside every hour or so for a few cigarettes, shuffle a few papers and get paid $100,000 plus to do it. (I think I have just described a government job - LOL!) The current mantra is: "Do as little as you can for as much as you can. Complain, whinge, berate the boss, envy his or her success and blame everybody but yourself if you stuff up." Think I'm painting a grim picture? Yep. But it's reality. Just look around you - anywhere and you will see what I say is true. Sure you can choose to see only good but it's getting harder and harder to filter out the junk. Whew! I got carried away and I still haven't made my main point. I was gonna talk about what I call our ever-burgeoning HEDONISTIC SOCIETY but I know you will want to make a few interjectory comments Dave so I'll leave my nuclear warhead for my next post (LOL!). That'll rock the kazbah! Gary