Kel and all: Yep. Know what you mean. Point is not self-hatred but a willingness to "appreciate" self-deprecating humor now and then, rather than wallow, unaware, in a kind of spoiled-brat self-righteousness. In my endless pursuit of reconciling the needs and works of humankind with those of the earth and its life (I'm calling my write-up "Advancing Toward Eden"), I speak (at too great a length to go into here) "frugal luxury" to signify the route out of this mess of excess as an alternative to desperate poverty, the ultimate consequences of delaying proactivity too long. Note that "proactivity" does not show up as a noun in the spell-checker. It is not, however, "the younger generation," but those who have made the younger generation who, if anyone, must be blamed for the current state of affairs.
I invite your (and everybody's) further refinement of my stone-axe treatment of the subject. WT At 06:19 AM 1/21/2008, you wrote: >"Americans know the price of everything, but the value of >nothing." --An unattributed "modification" of Oscar Wilde's original >quote, who described cynics in those terms. > >Hmmm......I beg to differ, to some extent, Wayne. I'd modify that >even further to read "American youth know the price of everything >but the value of nothing." I think that America has made enough >sacrifices over the past seven decades and has been the butt of the >world's scorn (and our own) long enough. By and large, our children >know nothing of sacrifice, nothing of history, nothing of want or >need. Further, our self-inflicted guilt over this nation's >prosperity is dangerous; rather than see our mistakes (even the >grievous ones) as steps along the way and tools to learn from, we >flog ourselves and each other mercilessly, to the point of cultural stagnation. > >We have stopped looking for the lessons in people like James Stewart >and Glenn Miller, and we've become short-sighted and allowed >ourselves to instead be titillated by the likes of Anna Nicole Smith >and Britney Spears. We've lost sight of our heroes, flaws and all, >and have therefore lost anything of value they may have to teach >us. "Big stars" like Miller and Stewart waived their posh, comfy >lives to fight in battles overseas or to provide the troops with >live entertainment far from home. They understood sacrifice. So >did we all...rationing, bottle drives, rubber drives, paper drives, >you name it. We don't teach it anymore, we don't expect our kids to >comprehend it, nor do we attach relevance to our own history. > >Blah....I wax nostalgic for concepts like "An honest day's pay for >an honest day's work" and "Ask Dad -- he knows!" Heh. Anyway, I >would just like to see us take a clear look full of perspective into >our past, and learn from our mistakes. Move on. Stop the >self-hatred. Know what I mean? > >Kel > > ><http://blackriveractionteam.blogspot.com/>Black River Action Team (BRAT) >45 Coolidge Road >Springfield, VT 05156 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >http://www.blackriveractionteam.org > >~Making ripples on the Black River since 2000! ~ > > >Looking for last minute shopping deals? ><http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping>Find > >them fast with Yahoo! Search.
