The Foolish Generation

We have had the Flapper Era, the Depression Kids, the Baby Boomers, the "Me" generation, the Beat Generation, Gen X, etc.

What do we call the current crop of young adults? How will they be known. I suggest that the label "The Foolish Generation" might well apply.

1. Social networking-Children barely into puberty are posting onto Facebook, MySpace and other social interaction sites text and pictures of themselves that open them up to assault, kidnapping, rape and murder. And that information will be there for years to come. A prospective employer, college admission office, future father or mother-in-law can read stuff that you would never want then to see. And from the writing styles I have seen, they will label you as a total waste of time and effort.

2. Tattoos and piercings- Look cool and let you see a moment in your life. SURE! And is that moment going to be something that you really want to remember 15 years from now?
"Well people ought to be fair and not pass judgement on my lifestyle. If I want to ink up, what business is it of my employer?"
Remember that he is paying you to represent his business, not your spur-of-the-moment snap decision when you were high. If you are sleeved out with a bunch of poorly executed tats, who wants you to work for them. "Love" and "hate" on your fingers will not lead you to the executive floor. Teardrops from your eyes won't get any sympathy from the loan officer, scholarship committee, or H.R. department head.

3. Cell phones, texting, etc.- You already have a strike against you as being a young, inexperienced driver. Don't compound the problem by talking or texting while you are driving. The funeral home already has plenty of business, why add to it?

4. Casual unprotected sex- There are STDs out there that they haven't named, much less found a cure for. Saying "It's not as intense wearing a condom!" seems to pale in comparison to having it fall off when penicilin doesn't work.

5. Drugs - They are expensive, they will hold you in bondage, destroy your health and kill you.
Why go through that?

6. Driving and/or walking while plugged in - Living in a University town I see countless ex high school seniors walking around campus and the city streets deeply immersed in their I Pods, Walkmans, or other music players, with the dual umbilical cords screwed into each ear tightly so the 150Db "music" won't leak out. Unfortunately, street noise doesn't leak in either, and they are totally unaware of vehicular traffic. This would only be a problem at intersections, but these babes in the woods don't understand the difference between streets and sidewalks. They will walk right up the center of a street with their back to the traffic in total oblivion. I guess that it is the school's way of getting rid of the Darwin Award candidates without having to flunk them and lose the tuition money.
And the drivers who are so distracted that they run stoplights 10 seconds after they have changed color need to wake up before they kill a pedestrian who was obeying the law (almost an oxymoron) and was crossing the street in the walkway, with the light).

Trying to keep the funeral home's business at a minimum, I am,

Winter Owl

I am reasonably well educated, have seen a lot of the world, and am somewhat a skeptic.

I can't figure how an American, coming from a literate society, could fall for the Nigerian 419 scams that fill the internet.

For example, here is one I got this morning with my comments in ( ).

HELLO, (All Caps? Don't you know the etiquette of not SHOUTING in your posts?)

I AM BARR.DAVID JONES (Not David Jones, Barrister) OF RITA LEGAL PRACTITIONERS AND PROPERTY CONSULTANTS LONDON, UK. THE PERSONAL ATTORNEY (you already said you were a barrister already! Who are you trying to convince?) TO THE LATE MR.JOHN DOE (YEAH! Sure) AN AMERICAN NATIONAL, (That should be a period, not a comma, Mr. Barr.) MR JOHN DOE WAS A CONTRACTOR WITH AN OIL COMPANY HERE IN UK TILL 2006.UNFORTUNATELY MR.JOHN DOE WAS INVOLVED IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT HERE IN BIRMINGHAM UK WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN AND HAS SINCE BEEN BURIED GRACEFULLY HERE IN UK. (Does that mean they didn't drop the casket down the stairs leaving the funeral chapel?)

HOWEVER,THE REASON I HAVE DECIDED TO CONTACT YOU IS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT YOU AS A FAMILY MEMBER TO MR.JOHN DOE (Knock,knock on the headstone! Mr. Doe, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Vann, who is now your family member.) SINCE I COULD NOT LOCATE ANYONE RELATED TO HIM YET WITH ALL MY EFFORT.(Now that shouldn' be hard. There are millions of John Doe's and Jane Doe's in America. Although many of them are wearing toe tags already, there are still a ton of them living!) THE PURPOSE FOR THAT IS TO ENABLE US (to) WORK TOGETHER TO CLAIM THE FUND DEPOSITED BY MY DECEASED CLIENT WITH A BANK HERE IN UK, (period again) THE FUNDS ARE AS AT (Which is it? As or at) NOW UNDER THE RISK OF BEING DECLARED UNCLAIMED SOON, AS IT HAS BEEN IN THE CUSTODY OF HIS BANK FOR 2 YEARS NOW WITHOUT CLAIM.(Isn' that just a tad illegal?) THE FUND(s) IN QUESTION IS (are) BRITISH POUNDS FIVE MILLION NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY THOUSAND POUNDS (now what Englishman is going to write his currency values this way?) WHILE THE DEPOSIT REFERENCE IS:ABPLC/PBG/002/99.THE ACCOUNT IS UNDER (it's not UNDER anything if it is pending!) PENDING AND I CANNOT MAKE ANY TRANSFER OR WITHDRAWAL FROM THE ACCOUNT TILL I GET A NEXT OF KIN FOR MY LATE CLIENT TO CLAIM THE FUNDS DIRECTLY FROM THE BANK.

IF THIS PROPOSAL IS OKAY BY YOU (if I am willing to commit international bank fraud, misrepresentation, and a host of other crimes),DO GET BACK TO ME TO ENABLE ME DISCLOSE FURTHER DETAILS CONCERNING THE TRANSACTION AS WELL AS DISCUSS THE MODALITIES (Have all Nigerian scammers learned a new word this week modalities)FOR ITS EXECUTION WHICH IS UNDER SEVEN WORKING DAYS.
LEST I FORGET,I WILL BE OFFERING YOU 50% OF THE TOTAL FUND FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THIS VENTURE. (Yes, let us not forget the hook that will make you want to risk Federal Prison, if this was true)

I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU. (You are looking to hear) (I will listen for your letter?)

BEST REGARDS,
BARR.DAVID JONES.
Still doesn't get it.
(David Jones, Barrister
Rita Legal Practitioners, Property Consultants and Fishmongers)

It must be pure greed that draws them in. White Man's disease!

Only two days have gone by and the Redbud trees are painting the neighborhood a bright crimson. The plum tree is about 1/3 full of blossoms and the fragrance is spreading across the neighborhood. Soon the Bluebonnets will display their glory along with the Indian Paintbrush.
Genealogical Society meeting tomorrow, at the college library.

Spring is around the corner. Noticed that there are buds on the wild plum tree in the front yard. Soon the air will be inundated with the heady aroma of the plum blossoms.
I have six tomato plants out in my "Square foot Garden" and they are tall, proud, green and soaking in the sun.
My strawberries are both blooming and setting fruit. Green right now but soon to be red. Then I have to fight the squirrels and robins for the juicy, sweet, tender fruit! Not those gargantuan off-red fiberous cardboard-tasting clones from Mexico!
The azaleas are thrusting their ruby red blossoms up and out, defying the gloom of late winter.

Life is good!