I took my nephews sailing yesterday on my 27 ft yacht, named "Feckless". I am 45 yrs senior to the youngest who is 13 and his brother is 14 yrs old. It was a nice day on the lake. Temperatures in the mid 80's and partly cloudy with winds 7 to 9 mph. We had a great day on the lake. But I made some observations about this younger generation I will share with you if you dare to read on.
I asked them about girlfriends and they said they did not have one. Of course these days one has to be careful, but they assured me they were not queers and I did not press that issue too hard.
I tried to man up the little fellows while in my charge as their father is a bit of a milque toast fellow who is the IT geek at the local hospital. I do not see what my sister sees in Gilbert, but they have been married for 17 yrs and seem to be happy.
Anyway, it was the best weekend so far this spring and lots of big motor boats out with bikini clad gals being driven all across that old lake. I told Caleb and Jacob to wave to "the titties" as they pass by, and they looked at me as though I was some sort of nearly 60 yr old pervert.
I began to wonder what was the difference between this youngest, newest generation and mine which came of age just after WWII. I see a few broken bones each football season now and we never had a broken bone when I played for the Rams in the late 60's. By the time I was 14, like Jacob, I had had at least three serious girlfriends and two break-ups that put me to bed for a day or two when they happened, but I got up and found me another one the next week. These boys will not be ready to deal with rejection and disappointment when they get older and will likely have to take prozac or something to alter their mind chemicals when the reality of life hits them. We took the hits and kept on coming at life when I was a boy.
I cannot say my life has not been a series of serious setbacks and disappointments since I was taken by my parents to see the Beatles in Memphis in 1966. I blame them for my peaking too soon, but I am not a complainer.
Back to the problem with Jacob and Caleb. The environment is cleaner for these too pasty white juveniles. When I was a boy there was above ground nuclear testing and we had lots of radioactive milk to drink which I concede kept our bones stronger than todays youths, hence the lack of broken bones when I competed in contact sports. We also had a fog truck that sprayed DDT for mosquitos in our little town twice a week, and we competed with each other on our bikes to be the one who could ride fast along the fogger truck and stay in the thickest part of the cloud the longest.
We routinely broke and inhaled deeply from vapors contained in the fluorescent lights we would find out behind the grade school when they were thrown away by the janitor. Liquid mercury was stolen from the science lab and played with by all and we even coated our silver quarters with it to make our money shine. I guess the lead paints in our homes protected us from the mercury.
We did not have carseats or seat belts. We drank beer when we were teenagers and the cops, who were all WWII vets, kept us safe and gave us breaks when they caught us. I feel sorry for these boys. What a milque toast world and a milque toast life they are living in.
Wave to the boats with titties boys! They did not, so I did. Is DDT stored and converted into testosterone in the human body. What else could it be? If this is true we must bring back DDT before humanity is ruined!
Is is just me or the times they are a changing?
Jackson Delano Maybolt, president Urban Poverty Law Center
No comments:
Post a Comment