Old Decathlon Olympics Journal

May 13- entered May 16 - Time Flys

Time Fly’s – not only when your having fun but when your being confronted and conflicted by all the everyday battles that hinder the ability to take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy life.

The little wonderful bundles of joy that the majority of parents consider their new born babies to be are presenting nearly unheard of trouble and grief that is goes way beyond the type of trouble and grief that my generation caused when we were growing up.

I have googled myself nearly crazy trying to find a legitimate reason for some of the horrible crimes that are being caused by the youth of today. There just were not any Columbine type rampages when I was going to school in the 1960’s and 1970’s. I ask myself why? Is it the proliferation of violent video games and television programs that are consciously or subconsciously influencing the developing minds of the youth today? Is if the extraordinary amounts of breaking news stories about all sorts of violence on the radio, television, and Internet that young children have at access to on an hourly basis? Is it the proliferation of movies that bombard our youth with vivid images of death and destruction?

There was a time that I would have said that no amount of television viewing, video game playing, and breaking news stories could possibly have this effect, but now I am just not so sure. If everyone over the age of 25 will stop and think back to their youth and ask themselves what type of movies and games did our generation play or even have access, I think that most would be surprised by their own answers.

I remember when very young graduating high school seniors were enlisting in military service in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. At that time, as a country our nation and our sons and daughters were extremely naïve. The Vietnam War had been a distant battle in a distant country. As a nation we were not emotionally prepared for the horrors of war and the effect it would have on the generation of men and women being active participants in an ugly undeclared war. Most of us had grown up with John Wayne war movies. The brutal and bloody reality of war was not the main focus of the movies then, it was more focused on an individual’s bravery and how to best serve your country. When my generation walked out of a war movie we were not concerned with the complexities of graphics or even the amount of blood, guts, and body parts that were depicted on the big silver screen. Why? I am beginning to believe that because in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and certainly before that time, movies told a story by portraying believable characters that gave us a feeling of the honor of military service and the physical and emotional challenges that war presented. As a movie going public we were bombarded with heroism and pride.

I am disgusted with what I see in the movie theaters and on television today. There is little reference to honor, heroisms, and pride. It is all about how graphically killing another human being can be portrayed. There are coveted awards given to these movies and television shows for the acting and realism. The movies and television shows are barely more than something that is desensitizing our youth to bloody gore, and I personally consider some of them a how-to guide to kill. Youth today know more about all types of assault weapons, and are just about given a practical guide of where and how to find such weapons on the streets of any major metropolitan area.

Am I the only one that feels like our youth and our nation is going morally bankrupt?