This Generation of Mine

I often hear my grandfather talk about how life was during his youth. He proudly called it "The good old days." I am sure that the average reader who has a grandfather can sympathize. However, it is a debatable matter whether he is actually be right or not.

In his time, the most important thing was to be a gentleman, or a gentlewoman. The child was instilled in concepts like honesty, respect and integrity. What does a child hear nowadays? The child born today hears about all sorts of stuff such as prostitution, corporate espionage, murder, riots and sub-atomic warheads, among other things. He will learn in class about cross-Atlantic terror groups, and that one person is right and the another is wrong. In the midst of tolerance, he will learn hatred, in between the lines he will read corruption.

Sometimes, I am confused as to whether society in my time is better or even as good as it was 60 years ago. Life must have been different then. All these problems must have existed then as well, however, children were oblivious of it. Is the Internet a blessing or a curse? With the advancement of information technology, there is nothing you cannot know. Information has become the single most important factor of this century. The point is not that a 13-year-old boy now knows more about the facts of life, the point is how can you stop him from learning how to make a petrol bomb.

How can one blame this generation of mine for the problems occurring in this world? Numerous terrible diseases have gripped the earth in its jaws, and dictators are ruling the world over. The world is always on the brink of either the hard cold nuclear winter or the intense heat of global warming.