Symptoms of a Decaying Society

Pilgrim’s Walking Stick | May 27, 2024 | Written By Firefly Productions

A small child was playing on the largest slide of the playground, standing on the wrong side of the metal fence meant to protect children from falling, and flipping over it as if it were a monkey bar. The child used the structure of the slide in all ways except for those in which it was meant to be used - he was doing somersaults over the support bar at the top and was using the sides of the twisting slide as a springboard to jump to the hard ground below. When asked his age, the small boy proudly stated that he was four. As he was told that he should not play on the slide in such a way because of the risk of falling or hurting himself or others, the boy upgraded his antics and continued with his risky behavior, snottily telling the adult correcting him that "You are not my momma". He seemed to be showing off, performing for the concerned adult below, disregarding the words of his elder. "My momma didn't bring me here, my sister did, and I don't know where she is," he told the adult who had asked about his mother's whereabouts. Having exhausted the "acceptable" means of interference with another's child, the adult gave up and moved on, deciding to ignore the boy for the rest of the day, frustrated by the lack of respect and deliberate disobedience of the child. The adult was left to ponder the situation and wonder how children have moved from respecting adults to disregarding them and from obeying them to challenging them in such a short time. While children have not fundamentally changed, their increasingly negative and disrespectful attitudes have, leaving a tender wound on the hearts of concerned adults and revealing a major symptom of the diseased system in which we are functioning.

Children used to feel respect for all adults and fear the consequences of not obeying them.

Whether the adult was a parent, grandparent, neighbor, friend's parent, or babysitter, children used to listen to their elders without talking back or showing disobedience. The attitudes of children have drastically changed, and kids routinely disobey babysitters, disregard the guidance of a neighbor, are disrespectful to elders, and resist parental authority. Today, daytime talk shows feature wild kids and teens who are sent to boot camp. Violence and guns are a concern in our schools. Kids are having babies, and worse, are killing other kids! Meanwhile, parental tolerance of other adults correcting their children has diminished - one may now get looks or words of disapproval from another parent if he tries to stop another's child from throwing bits of wood on the playground. Other adults feel little or no responsibility for children who are not their own. Older siblings are disappearing from the education of younger brothers and sisters as they are allowed to live adult-like lives prematurely. Our children receive less guidance from adults and more from television, movies, and music.

Because all the adults in the household usually must work to provide the necessities for their families, children are left without supervision much of the time. Television and video (promoting fighting, games killing, and violence) have replaced outdoor neighborhood games and constructive activities. Kids are given plastic guns as toys - not just the small metal guns of the baby boomer generation, but large, multi-round guns that shoot ten toy bullets with one pull of the trigger. They are exposed to negative influences such as drugs, sex, violence, and crime, all of which can be found on any local playground or television station. They watch movies featuring kid vs. adult plots (in these movies the child is usually right, while the parent is wrong) and they feel they are invincible, tough, and must answer to nobody. Parents continue to suffer to put food on the table while dealing with a child they are not able to control.

Our children are angry, though most cannot pinpoint why. As a popular reggae song says, "You can't fool the youth". The children may not be able to verbalize or understand their discomfort in the system in which we functioning, but their behavior and attitudes reflect these feelings. They understand that the system does not care about them. They understand when things are not just or ethical. They are hurt when their parents are not available because the system requires both Mommy and Daddy to work just to provide for them, leaving little time to actually raise and teach them right from wrong. They have not been brainwashed into the system and materialism it brings, and they know that sharing time and love is much greater than material accumulation.

We are asking ourselves when the violence and chaos in our schools will end. We wonder why our families seem to drift apart and our relationships are unstable. We wish for a better tomorrow and a stable and healthy life for our children. Yet, as the years pass, the system pushes us further and further from the stable and fulfilling life that we want. We must wake up and realize that the chaos will not end until the current mentality is changed. Our society will not change until the system in which we are functioning changes. It starts with the individual, and together we can make a difference.