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| This is a toddler. Also known as "the future". |
Not enough people are teaching their children to be sensible, forward-thinking human beings.
I'm going to be making some generalizations here, but understand that I am fully aware that these blanket statements don't cover everyone. If you're an exception to the rule, congratulations, I'm not talking about you.
1 : Wealthy Kids
Children born into wealthy families aren't being taught the value of earning what you have, because everything just gets handed to them. They grow up with a sense of entitlement; they never had to work for anything, so actually having to put in real effort is seen as some horrible thing. They act like money grows on trees, because there's always more of it to be had and all they have to do is hold out their hands. They can have the best of everything and never have to lift a finger to get it.
This is a dangerous mindset to grow up with, because these kids will someday be in a position to control the salaries and working conditions of the majority of the working class. They will have absolutely no understanding of how life is for those who aren't fabulously wealthy, other than what they hear in horror stories about poor people who want handouts. They will see everyone who isn't as rich as they are as leeches, and they will have no respect for the people who do the work that keeps their money flowing in. These kids will have no concept of where all their money actually comes from, or how that money is supposed to work in order to create truly prosperous country - they won't know the meaning of the American Dream.
2 : Poor Kids
Children born into poverty aren't being taught the value of earning a living, because they grow up in an environment where either their parents or their friends' parents are trying to live off of a system that's all too eager to give handouts to people who aren't willing to better their situation. They're taught - either directly by being told, or indirectly by examples set by their role models - that there's no point in working because there will always be a handout to bail them out, and they grow up with a sense of entitlement to that lifestyle.
This, too, is a dangerous mindset to grow up with. They grow up with a minimal-effort, minimal-gain attitude, content to simply survive instead of putting in the work to rise above their situation. They have more than likely been mostly ignored by their parents (who probably didn't want kids to begin with, or who didn't realize how much having a kid changes your life) and so have had to learn about the world through experience - and anyone who has lived in a poor neighborhood can tell you that it's not the best example that can be set for a growing, impressionable mind.
Neither of these two categories of children will truly understand the value of self-discipline, self-improvement, or looking at The Big Picture; but for vastly different reasons. Both categories of children have learned to take advantage of those around them, but in vastly different ways.
And this has been going on for generations. Obviously, it's not working out for humanity as a whole - all you have to do is look around and see the problems this sort of conditioning has caused.
What does all of this boil down to? Education. If there is one thing that all human beings should have an inalienable right to in this era of humanity's evolution, it's the right to a proper education.
I'm not talking about a college education, or education in academics.
I'm talking about education about how to be a human being, and not an ignorant, narcissistic, entitled, inconsiderate asshole.
Lets think long-term for a minute. Where do we want humanity to be a hundred years from now?
If you're like most people, your immediate thought was "why should I care? I'm not going to be alive in a hundred years, so it doesn't matter to me where humanity is by then."
That's exactly the train of thought that has brought about the chaos we see in our culture today. Nobody gives a rat's ass about the future, only the present.
Only themselves.
I shouldn't have to explain why this is such a horrible thing, but once again, look around you. Consider your friends, your relatives, your co-workers. I'd stake my life on the bet that you probably know someone whose life is screwed up beyond repair because of their own shortsighted decisions. You've no doubt experienced shitty customer service and tech support, because the waitress or representative hates their job and doesn't care about you. Or you've had something you bought break shortly after buying it because the people who made it cut corners on materials and would rather force you to buy another one than spend a little more to give you a quality product.
In fact, the vast majority of the less-than-satisfactory things that exist in the world were created by short-sighted people who don't care about how their actions (or inaction) affect the future. People that thought to themselves, "It doesn't affect me, so what?"
This is why we need to start teaching our children to consider the consequences of their actions. To be responsible, hold themselves accountable, learn from not only their own mistakes but from those of people around them. To be curious and question what they think they know instead of blindly following the herd. To be compassionate and generous. How to tell when they are being taken advantage of and to not take advantage of others. And most importantly, how to look past superficial differences like color, gender, sexual preferences... oh yeah, and choice of religion... and see what *really* matters in a a person: the willingness to contribute meaningfully to one's community and the world around them.
Because to do anything less only perpetuates the downward spiral our society is rapidly descending.
