Who Do We Thank?
Like me, I am sure most of you had an uncle, or even your father who said something like this. “Why when I was a youngster, I walked five miles through the snow to school each winter day.”
I chuckle a little because now I know the perfect thing to say when you hear something like that. “But, Uncle Dave, do you think your parents would have made you take that 5 mile trek each day, if they had a 300 hp four wheel drive sport utility vehicle sitting in the driveway?”
Each generation has a tendency to view the next generation as inferior in many ways. I guess this is human nature. Yes, you know I am telling the truth about this. Having said all of this, I want to talk about the upcoming generations, the leaders of tomorrow. And it isn’t pretty.
The youth of today are in trouble. It has nothing to do with laziness, ignorance or political views.
It has all to do with politeness, and more specifically the age old practice of thanking someone else when they do something for you. Most of the young people today, never say thanks. I have witnessed many occasions when a young person should have given thanks, but did not. It has puzzled me so much and I have thought about it a lot. I’ll give you two recent events in my life to bring this point out. I took my daughter and one of her friends to a big concert a few weeks back. I bought the tickets, they cost $80 each and as I handed one of the tickets to the friend of my daughter, I expected a thank-you. But no words of thanks were given. Here is another event of thanklessness. Not too long ago, after church I invited several people out with my family to a very nice restaurant, and paid the entire bill. The older couple I had invited, each thanked me in a sincere friendly way for asking them to dinner. The friend of my daughter, that I asked to eat with us, gave no thanks, none whatsoever, even though she heard the older couple thanking me.
I didn’t invite these people to dinner just to get thanked and boost my ego. I wanted to do it. It just rubbed me the wrong way. I have noticed young clerks taking my money at the cash register, and not thanking me. This irks me, maybe I am oversensitive about all of this, but I don’t think so. Politeness is rare amongst our young people. Now, let me be clear about this…….I am a thankful person, so my daughter is also a thankful young lady. My parents made certain that I knew, politeness is not optional, it is to be practiced. Amazingly, I learned that politeness is rather enjoyable, and I hope my daughter realizes this also.
When I notice my daughter being polite, let me tell you, I am as happy as a mortal can be. But my daughter is the exception today and not the rule.
I have thought hard and long about this situation, and want to share with you some of my reasoning……..as to why kids will not use that word, THANKS. If we correctly diagnose the problem, we may be able to do something to once again have polite and thankful children growing up amongst us.
Here are a few observations.
Society today, and our schools have failed our children. They have taken all of the things that make a person good and decent, and outlawed them. They have outlawed even the mention of God in public school. Even saying prayer at lunchtime is forbidden. God cannot be petitioned to protect the participants of sporting events at our schools. Valedictorians are not allowed to thank God, in the speeches they give.
If God is taken out of the human’s psyche, there is no reason to thank anyone for anything.
Imagine a world that has no God. Yes we are almost there, but not quite.
The sun peeking up over the snowcapped mountains, turns the dew on the roses in your garden to miniature rainbows, and as you walk among the lovely roses, you enjoy the sight.
What if you didn’t know who to thank?
What if the doctor handed you your healthy newborn baby girl, and you held her close to your bosom and wanted to thank someone, but there was no one to thank?
What if a miracle happened and your spouse, against all odds, beat a cancer that the doctors said would surely kill them? But there was no one to thank.
What if you are strolling on a cloudless spring night, and you turn your eyes toward the skies, and notice millions of stars gleaming in the sky, but you haven’t a clue as to who to thank for the magnificent sight?
I don’t care how advanced a society is, a society that had no one to thank, would be a miserable place to live. And here we get to the real reason I share all of this.
Teenage suicides are not rare anymore; it is just a sad fact of our day and age. Teenage, killers are numerous, like never before. In my own life, three members of my close family have been murdered by teenagers. Six years ago, two 14 year old boys, murdered my mother-in-law, and father-in-law in cold blood, in their home. Several teenagers took part in the beating and killing of my younger brother many years ago. It would be easy to be like a turtle or clam, and clam up, hunkering down, and let it all play out. But that isn’t me.
Something, my friends, has caused all of this havoc and mayhem we see today amongst our young people. I sincerely want to help the young people, and have come to some conclusions.
All young people need someone to thank. Don’t delude yourself, young people want guidance, help, rules and someone to thank for the good feelings they have inside.
Here is the blame………..I give it freely and know I am right.
Our children are taught evolution in school. Not as theory, but as fact. There is no creator of this lovely universe. It just sort of happened. So there is no one to thank. You can’t thank a big bang happening in a black hole, billions of years ago, for the marvelous things of life?
The past is not important then. It just happened. No one is to be thanked, or praised.
So, there is nothing to gain by looking back in time.
What about time today?
Everything good is ignored by the media today, and we are bombarded 24/7 with the glorification of things like this. Child molesters are worshipped because they can sing and dance. Sports heroes are glorified even after they beat their wives, and are not punished. They can take illegal drugs, and still be glorified. Porn stars can talk at our schools, but not religious figures. Gay activist can insist that their books are in the libraries of our schools, but religious books are banned. If we send armies to free people in slavery, they are called killers, and the mass murderers are treated better today than those few still trying to help the people of the world. Life is worthless, because we can snuff it out like a cigarette, up until actual childbirth. Yes, abortion is one of the many things cheapening life, and promoting death. Remember the days when a woman was said to “be with child?” What a beautiful thought, a woman with child. Childbirth. All of this has been replaced today with death. Our young girls are told……if you don’t want the pregnancy,(if you don’t want the living child in your body) no problem…….and they are told, Your parents don’t need to know. Yes, we have cheapened life. Today life is cheap.
Recently we even saw the starving of an unwanted handicapped woman, life is cheap.
So you can see, there really isn’t anything to be thankful for concerning life today. Death is worshipped. Life is cheap. You don’t have to thank death, it takes care of it’s own.
What about the future? It is all bleak say the newspaper and TV people. Global warming will kill us all. Yeah sure, forty years ago it was the coming ice age that told us there would be no future for mankind. The ridiculous scenarios conjured up by the naysayers, about the future, give us nothing to be thankful about.
So our wonderful children are growing up with the past accidental, today insignificant and tomorrow endangered. There is nothing for them to be thankful about. There should be, all that is needed is the right guidance.
I am glad I was a child back in the days when there was something to be thankful about.
I was, and still am, thankful that my creator made this marvelous universe, and I can be thankful, and enjoy it.
I realize that my creator has given me life as I live it today, and I am thankful, very thankful that I am.
I know the future is marvelous, to those who thank the creator……..So let me go out on a limb and say this, Thank you God.
I’m praying for our young people.
Join me.
I chuckle a little because now I know the perfect thing to say when you hear something like that. “But, Uncle Dave, do you think your parents would have made you take that 5 mile trek each day, if they had a 300 hp four wheel drive sport utility vehicle sitting in the driveway?”
Each generation has a tendency to view the next generation as inferior in many ways. I guess this is human nature. Yes, you know I am telling the truth about this. Having said all of this, I want to talk about the upcoming generations, the leaders of tomorrow. And it isn’t pretty.
The youth of today are in trouble. It has nothing to do with laziness, ignorance or political views.
It has all to do with politeness, and more specifically the age old practice of thanking someone else when they do something for you. Most of the young people today, never say thanks. I have witnessed many occasions when a young person should have given thanks, but did not. It has puzzled me so much and I have thought about it a lot. I’ll give you two recent events in my life to bring this point out. I took my daughter and one of her friends to a big concert a few weeks back. I bought the tickets, they cost $80 each and as I handed one of the tickets to the friend of my daughter, I expected a thank-you. But no words of thanks were given. Here is another event of thanklessness. Not too long ago, after church I invited several people out with my family to a very nice restaurant, and paid the entire bill. The older couple I had invited, each thanked me in a sincere friendly way for asking them to dinner. The friend of my daughter, that I asked to eat with us, gave no thanks, none whatsoever, even though she heard the older couple thanking me.
I didn’t invite these people to dinner just to get thanked and boost my ego. I wanted to do it. It just rubbed me the wrong way. I have noticed young clerks taking my money at the cash register, and not thanking me. This irks me, maybe I am oversensitive about all of this, but I don’t think so. Politeness is rare amongst our young people. Now, let me be clear about this…….I am a thankful person, so my daughter is also a thankful young lady. My parents made certain that I knew, politeness is not optional, it is to be practiced. Amazingly, I learned that politeness is rather enjoyable, and I hope my daughter realizes this also.
When I notice my daughter being polite, let me tell you, I am as happy as a mortal can be. But my daughter is the exception today and not the rule.
I have thought hard and long about this situation, and want to share with you some of my reasoning……..as to why kids will not use that word, THANKS. If we correctly diagnose the problem, we may be able to do something to once again have polite and thankful children growing up amongst us.
Here are a few observations.
Society today, and our schools have failed our children. They have taken all of the things that make a person good and decent, and outlawed them. They have outlawed even the mention of God in public school. Even saying prayer at lunchtime is forbidden. God cannot be petitioned to protect the participants of sporting events at our schools. Valedictorians are not allowed to thank God, in the speeches they give.
If God is taken out of the human’s psyche, there is no reason to thank anyone for anything.
Imagine a world that has no God. Yes we are almost there, but not quite.
The sun peeking up over the snowcapped mountains, turns the dew on the roses in your garden to miniature rainbows, and as you walk among the lovely roses, you enjoy the sight.
What if you didn’t know who to thank?
What if the doctor handed you your healthy newborn baby girl, and you held her close to your bosom and wanted to thank someone, but there was no one to thank?
What if a miracle happened and your spouse, against all odds, beat a cancer that the doctors said would surely kill them? But there was no one to thank.
What if you are strolling on a cloudless spring night, and you turn your eyes toward the skies, and notice millions of stars gleaming in the sky, but you haven’t a clue as to who to thank for the magnificent sight?
I don’t care how advanced a society is, a society that had no one to thank, would be a miserable place to live. And here we get to the real reason I share all of this.
Teenage suicides are not rare anymore; it is just a sad fact of our day and age. Teenage, killers are numerous, like never before. In my own life, three members of my close family have been murdered by teenagers. Six years ago, two 14 year old boys, murdered my mother-in-law, and father-in-law in cold blood, in their home. Several teenagers took part in the beating and killing of my younger brother many years ago. It would be easy to be like a turtle or clam, and clam up, hunkering down, and let it all play out. But that isn’t me.
Something, my friends, has caused all of this havoc and mayhem we see today amongst our young people. I sincerely want to help the young people, and have come to some conclusions.
All young people need someone to thank. Don’t delude yourself, young people want guidance, help, rules and someone to thank for the good feelings they have inside.
Here is the blame………..I give it freely and know I am right.
Our children are taught evolution in school. Not as theory, but as fact. There is no creator of this lovely universe. It just sort of happened. So there is no one to thank. You can’t thank a big bang happening in a black hole, billions of years ago, for the marvelous things of life?
The past is not important then. It just happened. No one is to be thanked, or praised.
So, there is nothing to gain by looking back in time.
What about time today?
Everything good is ignored by the media today, and we are bombarded 24/7 with the glorification of things like this. Child molesters are worshipped because they can sing and dance. Sports heroes are glorified even after they beat their wives, and are not punished. They can take illegal drugs, and still be glorified. Porn stars can talk at our schools, but not religious figures. Gay activist can insist that their books are in the libraries of our schools, but religious books are banned. If we send armies to free people in slavery, they are called killers, and the mass murderers are treated better today than those few still trying to help the people of the world. Life is worthless, because we can snuff it out like a cigarette, up until actual childbirth. Yes, abortion is one of the many things cheapening life, and promoting death. Remember the days when a woman was said to “be with child?” What a beautiful thought, a woman with child. Childbirth. All of this has been replaced today with death. Our young girls are told……if you don’t want the pregnancy,(if you don’t want the living child in your body) no problem…….and they are told, Your parents don’t need to know. Yes, we have cheapened life. Today life is cheap.
Recently we even saw the starving of an unwanted handicapped woman, life is cheap.
So you can see, there really isn’t anything to be thankful for concerning life today. Death is worshipped. Life is cheap. You don’t have to thank death, it takes care of it’s own.
What about the future? It is all bleak say the newspaper and TV people. Global warming will kill us all. Yeah sure, forty years ago it was the coming ice age that told us there would be no future for mankind. The ridiculous scenarios conjured up by the naysayers, about the future, give us nothing to be thankful about.
So our wonderful children are growing up with the past accidental, today insignificant and tomorrow endangered. There is nothing for them to be thankful about. There should be, all that is needed is the right guidance.
I am glad I was a child back in the days when there was something to be thankful about.
I was, and still am, thankful that my creator made this marvelous universe, and I can be thankful, and enjoy it.
I realize that my creator has given me life as I live it today, and I am thankful, very thankful that I am.
I know the future is marvelous, to those who thank the creator……..So let me go out on a limb and say this, Thank you God.
I’m praying for our young people.
Join me.
posted by web_loafer at 8:45 AM ::
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10 comments:
Excellent job, we should all pray for the young ones.We can thank the ACLU (Anti-Christ Legions United) for taking a lot of the good things out of our schools. I have posted my question of the week, I hope you will stop by to answer it.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Very thoughtful commentary on American kids.
What went wrong with the American heritage?
Hollywood led many of the American youths astray.
I don't know if the reason for this is related to religion vs. evolution, but what you've observed is undeniable. These young 'uns don't say Thank You or You're Welcome. Thank you is now "there you go" and You're Welcome is now "no problem."
I used to carpool with this woman who had several stepdaughters. Sometimes she'd drop them off on the way to our workplace. It was always somewhere different and she never knew where: so-and-so's boyfriend's house, so-and-so's workplace, a friend's house, etc. This lady would be driving along and out of nowhere one of the girls would just call out "you can let us off here." When we stopped to let them out, they'd all get out and slam the car door behind them, without saying a word.
I guess things are just changing (I'm almost as old as you).
I agree with everything you said 100% but it will only be a matter of time before someone comes in here to propagate some ridiculous scientific belief to belie the valid points you have made.
Just the other day, I came across this blog by a 14 year old girl who was sharing her views about abortion. Apparently, they were taught in school that it is murder and that the fetus actually senses danger just before the procedure.
This girl (obviously older) had the audacity to call the 14 year old blogger stupid and pathetic for believing in what she called "crap" going on to say that the fetus is not a human being but a mass of parasitic cells feeding on the mother's body.
It's really sad what lengths people would go to to justify their actions. I'm by no means religious and I don't believe in organized religion but c'mon...if you must fool around, be responsible to take enough precautions so you don't have to justify murdering an infant by convincing yourself (through flawed scientific logic) that you're actually just getting rid of a parasite...like as if it's a flu strain or something...
I am not religios, and I do not believe religion will solve our issue, but I do believe manners need to have a much higher priority in the modern world.
dizzlenightsky, Yes I know the scientist's will arrive, repudiating my belief. I am not one constantly worried about what others do with their bodies or souls. I have enough to do tending to my body and soul.
I won't be spending time trying to change any laws about abortion or other life issues.
Yet, I am trying to find ways to help the soul of the babies that "could have been"
Maybe that is the underlining reason I try to be thankful.
I am thankful that someone allowed me to live. So I am pro-life, thankfully so.
But back to the things I can do something about.
I am working hard now on being extremely pleasant when someone thanks me. Not a quick nod, or eye contact. I am trying to communicate politeness when some young person thanks me for something, I take a deep breath and reply in my most sincere voice.
You are welcome, You're more than welcome or It was nothing, but you are welcome.
I know that some of the young clerks who thank me for something, do it only because it is demanded by their employer, but my response can let those young people know, it is pleasant to be pleasant.
One of the ugliest things in the world are embittered elderly people. I never want to be the complaining, bitter and jaded senior citizen. An elderly person with a smile on their face is one of the most beautiful sights.
I am working on it.
Whymrhymer,
Yes the list of people to thank is long, and I am slowly working my way through it.
I don't limit my list to only those of the same political party, religion or race. I like the longer list.
ES, On the surface of my article there are no solutions given to the problems I brought up, and they are problems even if you don’t want to acknowledge them. I stand with all my observations. You will never convince me that God doesn’t belong in the schools of a decent country. Our greatest presidents learned to read, by reading from the Bible. Abraham Lincoln read the scriptures by candlelight. You cannot deny that. Our schools today suck.I don't know a better way to say it than that. They are failing so badly only a blind person would defend their incompetence. So I look at the problem, honestly, I have no ax to grind with the teachers, but they are not getting the job done. We pour more and more money into the schools, and they don’t show any improvement. So putting new things into the schools isn’t working, perhaps we might look at what we have taken out of the schools.
God, History and Obedience are the three things that come to the mind of a person really concerned about education. The solutions were not spelled out in my article, but they were inferred.
I guarantee you that if you could take the rowdiest of students at one of our failing schools back in time to 1951 when I started to school, almost all of them would be better off. Go ahead deny that. Back in those days we started each days learning with a prayer to God, if we misbehaved we were spanked, and we learned History. That type of schooling got us to the moon. It wasn’t perfect, but it was many times better than what the taxpayers are paying for today.
As to the parents falling down on their responsibility, I totally agree with you. Totally.
Ah, I didn’t blame global warming for lack of manners. Perhaps you should read the article again.
So we agree on some things and disagree on others. Thank you for your comment.
Two incidences with two of your daughter’s friends do not a fact make;
sad for you that your daughters friends have been brought up poorly but please do not assume that the rest of their generation has.
booklover9191, I have always maintained that we quit living when we quit searching for the truth. I have looked at life from all angles, trust me, and today I am a product of my searching.
Apologies are never needed for disagreements. Never. Glad to have you here.
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