Did the greatest generation fail? [Originally posted May 11, 2005]

Marilyn Barnewall's provocative clue:


FAMILY

"I believe one major reason a lot of American kids became unmanageable brats and teenagers in the 1960s came from battle-wearied soldiers standing on Europe's shores. They awaited a ship to take them home after the WWII. They were so grateful to be going home alive, so grateful for the families or future families awaiting them, they made a promise:
'My kids are never going to have a tough life like the one I've just lived. Things are going to be better for them.' Unfortunately...they made life too easy for their children. It resulted in unchallenged kids, insecure, undisciplined youths. Kids need to be challenged. The only way to gain self-respect and a sense of self-reliance is to take a chance. ... We created a risk-free society so our kids didn't have the chance to face challenges. By doing so, we removed their opportunity to develop character -- and now we don't like the lack of character. We want them to be people we can trust. It is because our kids have had the chance to develop character removed from them that a large majority believe it is okay to cheat. That is our legacy to America's youth. How sad! Someone ought to give the senior citizens who thought sixties' escapism into drugs was cool -- the people who caused this problem -- a good spanking!"

--Marilyn Barnewall

Seriously, kiddies, this explains a lot.