When I was a kid, there were certain things you did not do: swear, act rudely or be disrespectful; especially to those older than you, or be selfish and self-centered. Now that's all normal behavior.
Certainly explains a lot.
We have become a nation of people who do not want to grow up; to be grownups.
Examples are everywhere. Our politics are filled with individuals for whom compromise is anathema to them. Political parties that are " my way or the highway " in their attitudes towards anyone not buying into their beliefs. Consequently, everything is a struggle of ideology rather than a legislative responsibility. Yet politics is merely a reflection of our stunted national perspective which is inculcated with our unwillingness to accept the specter of aging and the responsibilities that go with being a grownup.
Being a grownup is no fun. You're expected to be responsible, put the needs of others before your own, balance what you want with what you need, and accept that life isn't fair. Does that sound like fun? Of course not. Being a grownup used to infer certain qualities; the above mentioned responsible, courteous, thoughtful; respectful. A grownup recognizes their place in the world; both good and not so good. Not everybody gets there in one piece, but as is often invoked; there is a time to put childish things away.
Except that few seem to want to do that anymore. America is noted as being the birthplace of the teenager. In olden times, there wasn't time to be a teenager; there was work to do. Maybe if you were a member of a wealthy family or a part of the aristocracy you could blow your adolescence, but for everyone else there wasn't time to moon about as you can today. And it's not necessarily that being a teenager has to change, but there comes a time to grow up, and for a lot of us, that isn't happening. Boorish behavior and a me first attitude, burnished with the great sense of entitlement and " specialness " that we've endowed our children with hasn't given way to a sense of the world greater than ourselves. Consequently, we're inundated with shallow interests in celebrities of no import, titillated by a prurient interest in sex, but unwilling to delve into the responsibilities and complexities of adult sexual activity, and an inordinate fascination with graphic cartoon violence. This gives us all manner of media offering the blow by blow vacuousness of modern celebrity; fame for it's own sake. Pervasive sexualization that preens and struts, giving us the bizarre surrealism of both mother and teenage daughter dressed like TV skanks, whether at school or at the mall, and probably at church, assuming they go, yet never goes beyond the surface and addresses the deep ambivalence we have with sex in this country. Then there's our obsession with violence. Whether on TV, the movies, in games, we wallow in gore and revenge, yet when real violence strikes we recoil and make grand gestures that last no more than a fortnight, or it's prison for everyone no matter the cost.
So why is this a problem? Is delaying adulthood such a bad thing? Aside from certain physical limitations, choosing when to grow up may not seem so important, but as with all things, even that requires a grownup assessment. The bigger problem is that this unwillingness to grow up has seeped into our collective national consciousness. At a time when we need to be responsible for the consequences of our actions; when we need to accept that we can't have it all and that what we do have isn't being paid for, when sacrifice is warranted for the sake of future generations, when we need to accept that hard work is required, acting like 15 year olds isn't going to cut it.
It's time to grow up, accept that no everything is about us, and go about the business of being grown up.
