What's the world coming to?

 A person born in 1990 would be 21 years old at some point this year of 2011. They will be legally adults and capable of managing their lives within their limited capabilities.

During their brief lifespan they saw the recession of the early 1990s and a recovery during the late 1990s. They saw a modest prosperous environment from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, then it reverted back to stagnation and another recession from about 2006 forward until the present time.

Ironically, this generation has seen very little good economic news during their lifetime. They were born and grew up during questionable to poor economic times.

The world that they know is much different for them than for the preceding years. To them our country has always been in a war or two. They have never known a world without war.

They have never known a world without computers. This technological growth that many adults had to learn so painstakingly was what they grew up doing. It is just what they do and know.

Many, if not most, of them have been taught the value of getting a good education. However, what good is it to have a fancy degree with no job to utilize your hard-won skills? That’s like getting all dressed up with no place to go. Realistically, where are the majority of the jobs coming from these days?

Unlike in times prior when it was relatively easy for one to find a job if they really wanted to work, that is no longer the case. Every one that wants a job these days is not guaranteed to find one. In fact, there are not enough available jobs for every one in this country who wants and needs to work. 

Is it even profitable for this current generation to add tens of thousands of dollars toward student loans with no foreseeable jobs to pay off those loans? How long would it take to pay off such a debt? Without a decent job, forever!

It is not just the job markets along with technology that changed so drastically but it appears that the entire fabric of society has suffered a huge paradigm shift.

Where have our morals gone since the 1990s? Are we becoming more moralistic or are we declining in that area? There was a time when the notion of God and godliness was spoken about reverently, but in these days that notion is no longer highly respected.

A lot of this is attributed to a decline of faith in our clergy. Their public persona is definitely not good, according to public opinion, because of so many famed-but-fallen leaders. If our religious leadership is unreliable then how can the body of believers be expected to stay in line if and when the head has fallen?

What about the political arena of leadership? Perhaps this generation could look up to, and be inspired by them? Definitely not! What about the schoolteachers? Surely they were the reliable ones that taught each generation and prepared them for the future.

Have you seen the most recent statistics regarding public education?

I am still trying to find out where is the silver lining for a child born in 1990 and beyond? Surely there must be something for them look toward to that inspires greatness and/or achievement! 

Something has to inspire them to work hard in order to achieve the American dream. Without sufficient motivation why would any of them bother putting up a good fight? Still the question is begged... “What’s this world coming to?”

Do we really want to know the truth, or would we be better off not knowing? Most can’t handle the truth very well, especially when it seemingly is not good news. Most would prefer to stick their heads in a hole in the ground until things get better, but that could be a very long time just trying to remain in the darkness of ignorance!

Here is part of the truth:

Right now we are painting the future and we have been doing so all along. The things we are doing, or not doing, are carving the pathways of the future. Our future leaders are being trained right now as we live and breathe. The children that we are currently educating will become our presidents, senators, congressmen, judges, peace officers, commanders, clergymen, professors, parents, and teachers.

The future is already in their hands, but we are handing them the issues they will be forced to face up to. A good example of this is the trillions of dollars of debt that they will have to pay. Another example is a world of old people with no way to properly care for them. One more is also an increasingly- polluted atmosphere combined with a very rapid depletion of our ozone layer.

Again, what we are currently doing, or not doing, which is exactly the picture with which they will have to cope. This is how things have always happened. Each generation lays the bricks down for the next ones to follow. Somehow, humanity has managed to stay afloat.

During past history there have been several Dark Ages followed by ages of renaissance and growth. Though the future pictures will be quite different from previous ones, it will be the one designated for that generation to navigate.

One question to consider right now is, shouldn’t we already be doing things to ease their burdens? Can’t we effectively plant seeds that will sprout in the future and yield good fruit for them to consume? Funny how much less the average person thinks about what may be ahead for those who are forced to live in the mess that we have made.

Sometimes I wonder; what’s this world coming to? However, the more I think about it I’m inclined to agree with the Wisdom of Solomon. There is truly nothing new under the sun. What we are seeing and experiencing is just a reshuffling of the same old things that are now being seen under a new light. 

The question becomes, what is this new generation going to do with their time in the spotlight? How will they handle it?

Finding Your Core Self

The reason people can be so easily persuaded is because they don’t really know “who” they are. Until a person establishes clear-cut boundaries they are vulnerable to countless persuasions.

Although you find this to be true about children, most adults still have areas in their lives where their boundary lines aren’t clearly defined. There are still things that make them indecisive. This is primarily because they never had a chance to explore certain situations beforehand.

As situations and circumstances arise through our lives is when most people learn more about themselves. This is also when they possibly draw new boundary distinctions. As you go through more experiences you get more practice and thereby can set or re-set your boundaries.

Naturally this is why people become more matured and defined with age. This is usually attributed to the numerous experiences in dealing with things and exploring ways of handling them.

However, if older people never experience certain situations, they will be equally as ill-prepared in handling them. Their only advantage would be drawing from the experiences of  others who have dealt with similar things in the past.

Even though most of us learn to put on a false front, for the most part that is only a façade to convince others as to what we want them to see in us. For the majority the real self is hidden very deep below that façade.

Normally, people only expose their tender under-belly to very intimate friends and loved ones, the reason being is because they dare not let anyone outside their inner circle see their vulnerability. When they don’t truly know what to expect from themselves they most certainly don’t want others to see them in a state of confusion or ignorance.

One of the main reasons we don’t know ourselves is because very few go on a deep soul-searching mission until something affects them, thereby causing them to introspect deeply. This could be a tragedy, a catastrophe, or the loss of someone close. As things drive us deeper inside we learn more about who we truly are.

Even though life is a constant learning situation, we never fully grasp everything. So much is left unexplored when we depart. Because of this one should learn to expect the unexpected so it doesn’t completely devastate you. The more you are humbled by life itself the more you learn to roll with its flow.

You would think that a greater number of younger people would grasp this wisdom earlier and thereby add more peace to their youth, but that is why the statement, “Youth is wasted on the young.”

Apparently there is no urgency to gain wisdom until something forces one to go on a soul-searching mission. Most people seem to need ample inspiration or motivation before they make the decision to cross over into the vast ocean wisdom. Without it there is another very popular axiom of which we are also quite familiar, “There's no fool like an old fool!”

As I sit here today and gaze back over more than a half-century I think of all the things that the nearly 62 year-old version of myself would say to an 18 year-old version of the same person. Since it would be me talking to me perhaps I may be inclined to listening and perhaps believing, but would I actually apply any of the wisdom that my older self would share with the younger me?

For myself, getting to know my inner core has been very trying and in many ways difficult. Unfortunately I was the sort of chap that required the crash into a brick wall before I made the proper adjustments. I had to touch the hot fire before I accepted the fact that fire burns. I had to try my many foolish ideas or inclinations that were not thoroughly planned and failed several times before I did the prudent things.

I burned a few good relationships and friends before I learned to truly appreciate people in general. Today winning has a totally different result than it did several years back. I have learned even to appreciate small things today when I never truly appreciated things at least thrice their value back when I was young.

I’m not quite sure but perhaps there was a version of one's true self, way back in the beginning, but we somehow denied what was true in order to chase an image that was more popular and acceptable by society. We denied who we truly were in order to become what we thought would be more acceptable by others.

Perhaps in truth you don’t become someone new, but more like becoming who you truly were all along. Like a century-old oak true, even though it grows many more layers over the years the initial core remains the same, simply covered now by multiple layers.

Our initial core is still there, but it is likewise masked by the many layers we placed over it through the years. In order to find your core self you don’t need anything new, certainly not any more experiences, you only need to drop all the false pretenses you have been forcing the true self to accept as real.  Drop them all and tell yourself that it is okay to be you. After all, that is how you were born into this world.

Find your core self. And if you don’t like what you find, change it to one that you can live comfortably with through the remainder of the time you are here in this corporeal body. Older people would tell you that truth, but you have to find a way to convince yourself to recognize, acknowledge, and accept wisdom.