December 6th, 2024

When today’s youth inherit the earth, will they know what to do?


By Lethbridge Herald on June 19, 2024.

Editor:

I worry for the youth of today, because I’m one of them. As an 18-year-old I have not been on this Earth for very long, but in my short tenure as a living being I have borne witness to things that shake me to the core. 

My generation has been granted many gifts by our predecessors; internet, automobiles, and the society that envelops all of us. At the same time these gifts have come with great cost. My peers reliant on the web leading to near illiteracy, car-based infrastructure making the outside hotter, and a society that acts to our disadvantage.

It is said “society is an old man planting a tree under which he shall not feel shade.” I think this is true, but it is likewise true that the tree we’ve been bestowed has not been watered. The orchard of the international community has granted all of us so much shade that we have taken it for granted.

Now when it is our turn to inherit this sapling country, we don’t know how to prune, we have no trowel, and we don’t even know whether it’s birch or maple.

Connor Shaw

Coalhurst

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SophieR

Good letter, Connor. You probably won’t need the shade from your grove, as the dark clouds of authoritarianism are rolling in. We have to break free of the neoliberal politics that has, and is, transferring social wealth to the rich. And we have to be vigilant against fascism (no matter how alluring the ‘easy fix’). Further, we have to take care of each other – stay engaged.
https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2024/06/19/europe-is-in-the-middle-of-a-greenlash-if-canada-doesnt-put-workers-first-in-its-green-transition-we-could-be-next/425656/

Fedup Conservative

Thanks for posting that Sophie. Our children and grandchildren aren’t going to be able to survive in Alberta because of the financial mess these Reformers are creating. Paying Canadians to move to Alberta when our healthcare and education systems can’t handle it proves how stupid they are, doesn’t it?
The school two of our grandchildren are in have had to convert one of their two gyms into two classrooms and add 7 portables to their school grounds because these fools don’t bother to build more schools needed.

biff

well said, and good follow ups from sophie and fedup.
our most pressing issues, today and throughout history, stem from the masses allowing the very worst to dominate and control. compounding factor comes from the masses actually glamourising and idealising as markers of success the likes of self service, power, fame, greed, and unlimited wants fulfillment.
i feel “the meek shall inherit…” suggests the meek inherit because the meek are too meek to honour the principles of being humble, gracious, cooperative, generous and kind. the most of us will consider those attributes as markers of successful living, but, somehow, we allow the worst to control our lives.

Last edited 5 months ago by biff
Dennis Bremner

Good letter Connor. I wonder the same thing. From a “Senior’s point of view I fear for our future. When a society cannot figure out what gender they are, or what bathroom to use, it gives me more than a pause for thought.
X Gen created and perfected “swarming” where it was deemed cowardice if you did not participate in a group beating of an individual. The following generations created groups to further personal agenda at a level we have never seen before.
Drugs also were a fallback for the cowards that could not face society and we then created an absoluetly required “sympathy group” who then pandered to the drug groups. Thereby substantiating their existence as a group.
The “Rat Pack” was the predecessor of all (Liberal antagonists in Parliament) People then realized that the squeaky wheel does get the grease.
We furthered the gang philosophy into Asian Gangs, Muslim Gangs, Blood Gangs, Crips Gangs, because even though criminals all, we need an identity to cling too.
New gens cannot function without being part of a group and every group fights for inclusiveness as if they are “special” and should be treated as such.
No one waves the Canadian Flag anymore because each group believes their flag is more important because its their identity. Cowards cater to the groups in fear of losing votes or not being included in the new wokeness.
So Connor, its a good question to ask, and you are correct in being a tad concerned about it.

Last edited 5 months ago by Dennis Bremner
SophieR

One of the clouds we were talking about, Connor.

biff

you read here as though you are in a poor space. why not honour the right of each to their body, and by extension, the right of adults to consent with one another. the cut line is to honour and respect the rights of one another. reminder: we have a right to preferences, but one’s preferences are not to be used to control the right of another to their body and their tastes.

Mrs. Kidd (she/her)

How are you, in any way, harmed or worse off if another person, another independent completely autonomous human being, identifies with and/or expresses a gender that differs from their biological sex or the sex they were assigned at birth? Quite simply, it is none of your concern.

The Dude

Hey Dennis, I just saw that Mrs. Kidd’s comment got a negative vote without any response to her comment. Maybe you should call out those cowards too? Or maybe you’d like to respond to her yourself?

Last edited 5 months ago by The Dude
biff

i appreciate your entry. i further suggest that in a world that is most shaped by wealth and greed outcomes, it is essential to recognise that we are downgraded to being mere consumers. as such, we have incredible power: what we buy, we buy into and support; what do not buy into, we limit and contain. our biggest issues stem from mining and chemicals – everything we buy and use from those realms had best be real needs; as wants, that is the basis of our great demise.