Our Children’s Future

As ….. parent and ….. observer of …. mankind, I grow increasingly concerned about ….. life that our children inherit, ….. values that they hold dear, and their expectations for ….. future. ….. childhood seems to last but ….. few years until ….. children become ….. market force to be bombarded with ….. advertisements on ….. television. They demand to have all that they see, and regard it as their right to be entertained every waking moment.

At ….. school, most children are bored by …. Lessons, which they see as irrelevant to …. Life as they perceive it. ….. life is about having ….. fun, and having ….. fun now. Or, at ….. other extreme, ….. school is fiercely competitive, and ….. pupils are pushed by ….. parents to achieve at all costs.

…..1960s were ….. time of great liberalization, when ….. youth thought it could right all wrongs. Its ideals of love and peace are now much scorned as ….. hollow, hippy phrases. If ….. world veered to ….. left in ’68, then it has lurched to ….. right in ….. past fifteen years. ….. 1980s are undoubtedly ….. more selfish, inward-looking era, with ….. individual out to look after himself, regardless of ….. effect this might be having on ….. others. …..new gods are ….. money and materialism, and ….. teenagers want now what it took their parents half a generation to achieve.

If ….. youth has learnt to question ….. wisdom of its elders, it has so far found nothing to replace it with. No wonder there is ….. drug abuse on ….. scale never seen before. No wonder so many children seek ….. help of psychiatrists. What are they to fill ….. emptiness of their souls with?

by James Stuart (BrE)