Comforts are leading to complacency among today’s youth
By Lethbridge Herald on August 14, 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 person I have borne witness to things that shake me to the core.
My peers have been granted much by the generations that have come before us. Internet, infrastructure, and civilization itself. But it is many of these great comforts that I find are leading to complacency.
Internet puts the sum knowledge of all mankind at our fingertips, but leads us to not retaining any knowledge learnt. Infrastructure connects every city on Earth, but it’s said by Robert Putnam that every 10 minutes driving is 10 per cent of our connection between man lost.
Civilization is an old man planting trees under which he shall not feel shade, but it feels like more and more in the international orchard, none of it is being watered. Entropy states that as systems become more complex they’re more prone to failing. I’m frankly unsure if my generation has been equipped properly with the skills to maintain everything around us.
When was the last time your children or grandchildren read a book of their own volition?
Connor Shaw
Lethbridge
9-8
“Are our children becoming too soft. Johnny is not allowed to climb trees – a natural and strengthening exercise – because he might hurt himself. … the lad goes to the school ground in a bus or his parents’ car; he spends long hours just sitting, watching movies or TV…”
That quote is from the Victoria Times… in 1955. Paul Fairie, a researcher from the U of C compiled clips from old newspapers in his book The Press Gallery. People have been sharing concerns that the youth aren’t up for the task for more than a century, and in that time humanity has accomplished quite a bit.
In Lethbridge we have the opportunity to interact with tons of students at the university and college. I see a generation of smart, driven, caring people who want to fix the many problems facing the world – I would encourage the author to spend less time fixating on one thing (the number of books people read) and more time learning about their passions, interests, and abilities.
a thoughtful presentation – thank you. what you note has been an issue long before the likes of the digital era, and even before tv. most people appear to not be keen on self development and growth relative to wisdom and love; they are socially conditioned to see success as growth of possessions, wealth, adornments…basically, about catering to the ego. visit any gym pretty much anywhere and one can great a snapshot of how even “health” is mostly about how one looks…and looking at oneself in mirrors endlessly. it is also fashion show of sorts, as so very many are sure to wear outfits that say, “hi everybody, look at me.”
i agree with the writer – complacency is an issue, but it long has been. the good news is there has been some push back over the past 20 years, somewhat similar to that of the 1960s, where the push back has been about fairness and equality and respect and sustainability. the bad news is that the outcomes have brought about too little by those standards. the oligarchy is ever the more powerful directly as a consequence of our buy in to digital technology, to pharm, to the ownership of resources and energy being signed off to private entities for a song. add to that how dependent these oligarchs have made us on “supply chains” stemming thousands and thousands of kms away, in lands that are run by entities that are entirely contrary to human rights and freedoms, and are without regard for sustainability and the natural world. whatever our suffering during ww2 over here is going to be trumped several fold by the next big conflict.
Wonderful to see you contribute your thoughts for us to read Conner… pleased to meet you.. You are not alone with your feelings of concern and frustration. Continue to communicate in every which way you can. As someone at the opposite end of the life scale my words of wisdom are to invest in yourself; gather as many skills as you can; do not overlook kinesthetic learning; invest in tools, and learn to maintain and repair your own possessions; learn to create both intellectually/spiritually and physically; always be willing to try something new… and YES, as you have recognized… READ all sorts of books. Your words and actions will inspire, lead.
By the way Connor, a long time ago a wise woman advised me to stop trying to save the world, and instead concentrate on the idea of “save one”. Recently I read this quote that is akin to that perspective: “If the human race is still here in 100 years, it will be because of lots of people doing lots of little things. Bigger things get co-opted or bought off by the powers that be. But if there are many, many little things going on it will be too hard for them to keep up with all of them. I consider myself to be a sower of seeds. Some seeds fall on stones and don’t even sprout, but some seeds fall on fallow ground and multiply a hundred fold.” — Pete Seeger
thank you for your thought-rich entries here. we are quite aligned on what makes a good life and a good journey. i cannot believe that your entries have come up with net negs. while we can send love, light and healing to those sorts, it is a downer that we have so much ignorance around us, i guess, sadly, that underscores the concerns well presented by connor. moreover, it likely demonstrates that the issues of our time have as much to do with those old but unwise, and not just “today’s” young.
“… it likely demonstrates that the issues of our time have as much to do with those old but unwise, and not just “today’s” young.” — I had thought that exact thing including a feeling that our well known religious bullies accounted for some of the negative hits. The one individual routinely demands others reply to his remarks of reproach yet offers absolutely nobody the respect of replying to their queries. It is no wonder that Connor alludes to the connections between men being lost in our society. Brick walls have evolved with good reason.
good to read what you are able to share here. you so often come from the heart, and that is the place of wisdom, at least as i have come to see.