I find interesting, sad, and a bit ironic what's happening to the youth of today. We hear so much of the youth of yesteryear - the likes of Mozart, who was composing before he was 10. They started right into greatness and genius when they were young. Every once in awhile you'll hear of a child genius these days, but you don't hear of youth doing much except the occassional commendable community service project or reprehensible shooting. Why? I believe one simple reason is behind it: today's youth are kept young. We don't mature like we used to.

That might seem ridiculous - what's different about today than yesteryear that would cause that kind of behavioral change? It's thrust upon us by society, and few bother to fight it. The lack of discipline and abundance of time-wasting distractions promoted by the media is such that it's a wonder that anyone ever grows up these days (many don't). They didn't have TV, video games, or computers in the 17 and 1800's. They had responsibilities that were more important - physical labor and schooling mattered, and kids read a whole lot more than most do today (Abraham Lincoln had read through the entire Bible 3 times before he was 10). This produced better-prepared human beings, ones who learned how to think before reality forced them to.

To sum it all up, i think we would all be better people if we didn't have technology to make us greedy sluggards. That said...old habits die hard - little can be done for us now save a mass initiative to rid ourselves of time-wasting distractions.

a brief and terribly undescriptive return - 10.28.04
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