View of generations
12/03/2007 06:18 p.m.

I sometimes think about the generation of my children, how their point of view is so different than that of the folks of my generation. I think about the data they have available, and how different it is from the data I gathered at their ages. I think about how bombarded they've been with violence and shock, how almost nothing real can shock their little socks off.

I used to wonder how teenagers could come into the habit of cutting themselves, but I think I understand now, a little bit. When children are bombarded with the type of media we feed them today, and allowed to become numb to violent expression, how can they be expected to FEEL real life, when their fantasy life has been full of horror for so long that it doesn't phase them any longer? So they cut, to feel something real, something of substance, something they can use their senses to experience. Sharp instruments that cut through real nerves, and then the blood which can be felt, and seen, smelled...and then the real scabs that form afterward, a reminder for a time that something tangible happened, something they had control over, and still have control over. Something inflicted by their own hand, not imposed by media input or parental stuffing.

Is it any wonder that this upcoming generation has to seek out such bizzare (to us, the older generation) input, since what they are "fed" on a daily basis is already so graphic? I suppose we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is what freedom from censorship has done, and I'm certainly not advocating censorship. But holy crap! There has got to be something we can do to preserve the innocence of these young hearts, isn't there?

If there is reincarnation, I think I don't want to come back again. Maybe I have a responsibility to, or maybe I won't be able to get out of it because of karma. Or maybe I am supposed to come back, hold some sort of memory of what I'm learning now, how emotions are precious and should not be stretched so far that a person can't feel any more. I loathe these times, and feel big-picture powerless to hold back the darkness that seems to be creeping into the most precious places, and how innocence is being ruined.

Maybe I'll be a magic grandma someday, the kind that my grandchildren will love to come to see, even if they see me as a bit quaint at first. I hope.


I am currently Gloomy
I am listening to the media