When did America, go to Hell

[ROCKFISH]

me thinks you need to go back a bit further. it all started in a garden, with a man and a woman and a snake, under a fruit tree. its been downhill ever since.

[Raven]

the fruit was a magic mushroom

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by ROCKFISH

me thinks you need to go back a bit further. it all started in a garden, with a man and a woman and a snake, under a fruit tree. its been downhill ever since.

[Backbeach Jake]

It started going to hell, when we stopped looking one another in the eye and say hello as we pass on the street. Even strangers. It started when kids couldn't play outside after dusk playing hide and seek and catch fireflies, unsupervised. It started when we began being punished for something we MIGHT do and then let off the hook when we DID do it. It started when the first working stiff was let go after 20 years just to keep profits up, not save the company.It started when stores started thinking "who's this arsehole" instead of saying" how can I help you today?" It started with pictures on the cash registers instead of numbers. It started when we the people started accepting injustice, unfairness and just a general lack of care for each other. In my opinion this Country is no more than an echo of what it once aspired to, the idea is still there, we say all the right words, but in reality, we're full of it. Our execution is just lame across the board. My rant for the day..

[spence]

All this bad stuff you guys mention has been around for ever.

Yea, kids can't go out alone...but how much of that is due to increased danger vs paranoia? You don't think there were peds working the streets 50 years ago? Of course there were...but as a society we ignored the topic becuase we couldn't deal with it. Now it's a hot topic, it's our perception that's changed.

Laying off an employee in the name of profit. You don't think this hasn't been going on since the beginning of time?

Wanna go back to a time where the women were kept barefoot, pregnant and uneducated, it was ok for a father to beat his son in the name of dicipline?

I don't.

-spence

[JohnR]

Lots of good & great points here! It has been touched on but I would say the change occurred when parents stopped REALLY teaching their kids right & wrong, honor & respect, cause & effect. I've seen it in my own family growing up, myself, I've seen it with various kids in Day Care to Public Schools.

Everything flows down from childhood. That is the root. How that root is mentored by the family makes a tremendous difference. Sometimes that mentoring is negative because of people, sometimes because of circumstance. But more often than not, bad parenting will turn out a troubled kid and that troubled kid, more often than not, won't be up to snuff in parenting. Sure, some kids "Get it" and change themselves but the trend is probably the other way...

As mentioned many times, the sad lack of respect. Respect for parents, teachers, authority, the law, the environment, learning, etc...

Respect, 9 times out of 10, is developed in one place - at home with the family!

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Everything flows down from childhood. That is the root. How that root is mentored by the family makes a tremendous difference.

Absolutely, and today with the divorce rate at 50% and most parents both working the kids get short changed,
not in material things but in one on one quality time.

I know there are alot of guys on this site that work, to be "PC"- mentor, kids. Some work with the Boy Scouts , supporting fishing programs, taking kids fishing, sports programs and i'm sure alot of others.
Alot of these programs allow time to spend with their own kids as well. God bless all of you! I know the ones who do it are rewarded in many ways.

I've been doing volunteer work with kids since the early 70s, alot of one on one, ages 12-17yrs.
The changes i've seen with the kids problems since starting is mind boggling. The things these kids face every day would blow your mind.

When they start to trust you and open up ,you can see what they face and how much guidance they really need. Violence, drugs, family problems right down the line. It's EVERYWHERE.

Best thing any parent can do is spend a complete day in their kids school and see first hand what goes on . Mind opening.



Working with the kids can help some,
but the Absolute best case senario is when they have at least one parent or granparent they can go to who really understands them.

But that person really has to spend ALOT of time listening and getting down in their shoes to begin to understand what they face and go through.

In addition, really understanding and advising, they have to reinforce, "Do the right thing".

[fishpoopoo]

history ebbs and flows.

this country will really be in thet toilet when the something-for-nothing crowd, which wants to put equality before freedom, takes over.