O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.
The Tempest
Act V, Scene I
William Shakespeare
I can't even tell you how many times I have been told to "get with the program" because it is a brave new world we are living in. Every time I am told that, I get an inward chuckle as I have read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and that brave new world, I don't think anyone would want anything to do with.
Similar to Hunger Games, Brave New World paints the world as a dystopia. A dystopia is nothing more than a negative utopia. Today we are seeing things, hearing things and experiencing things that are antithetical to the way many of us were raised. An example of this is close to home. One of the college football teams has a quarterback who got his girlfriend pregnant and had twins. Back in my day, the honorable thing would have been to marry the mother of your children, quit the team, become a part time student (at best), and work your butt off to support your new family. Today, with the price of raising a child to the age of 18 estimated to be $222K (exclusive of college), our local quarterback is still playing football, not married, and if working, not putting in many hours.
Honor, veracity, and valor use to mean something. To call someone a liar was almost never heard of as it cut to the heart of someone's character. Today we have presidential candidates calling each other liars. We have lost our chivalry and nobility. We had a sitting president receive oral sex (from someone other than his wife) in the Oval Office and we told by many it was okay because it was a "personal" matter. In so many things today, we have lost our sense of direction - our moral compass.
How did we get here? Some say it started in 1968 with the seeds of social unrest. Other say it was a reaction to Viet Nam. Question everything, respect nothing. Arguments which once were settled with fists, are now adjudicated with knives and guns. Decades ago bad behavior in the class room was dealt with by using some form of corporal punishment followed by a note sent home to your parents. When your parents saw the note, there was most likely more punishment coming. Today, there is no discipline in schools as lawsuits wait in the wings. Teachers and parents who at one time worked together as a team, are often now at cross purposes. God, who was frequently talked about in public education, is now persona non grata in academia. In the opinion of many, this brave new world we now live in, started in 1968 in the hallowed halls of eduction.
Just like a self assessment, sometimes we need to go to the mirror and take a closer look. To effect change, introspection is needed on a daily basis. Often today, when I look in our nations mirror, I really don't like what I see. I see a great country, build from courage and character, sometimes looking lost and confused. "Doing the right thing" has often been replaced with "I'm doing my thing". Selflessness has become selfishness.
What can we do? My feeling is this - to leave this brave new world, all we need do is embrace the lessons the Greatest Generation taught us. Then, the corrosive nature of the 60's, which gave us nihilism and hedonism, must be eschewed by all.
Honor, veracity, and valor use to mean something. To call someone a liar was almost never heard of as it cut to the heart of someone's character. Today we have presidential candidates calling each other liars. We have lost our chivalry and nobility. We had a sitting president receive oral sex (from someone other than his wife) in the Oval Office and we told by many it was okay because it was a "personal" matter. In so many things today, we have lost our sense of direction - our moral compass.
How did we get here? Some say it started in 1968 with the seeds of social unrest. Other say it was a reaction to Viet Nam. Question everything, respect nothing. Arguments which once were settled with fists, are now adjudicated with knives and guns. Decades ago bad behavior in the class room was dealt with by using some form of corporal punishment followed by a note sent home to your parents. When your parents saw the note, there was most likely more punishment coming. Today, there is no discipline in schools as lawsuits wait in the wings. Teachers and parents who at one time worked together as a team, are often now at cross purposes. God, who was frequently talked about in public education, is now persona non grata in academia. In the opinion of many, this brave new world we now live in, started in 1968 in the hallowed halls of eduction.
Just like a self assessment, sometimes we need to go to the mirror and take a closer look. To effect change, introspection is needed on a daily basis. Often today, when I look in our nations mirror, I really don't like what I see. I see a great country, build from courage and character, sometimes looking lost and confused. "Doing the right thing" has often been replaced with "I'm doing my thing". Selflessness has become selfishness.
What can we do? My feeling is this - to leave this brave new world, all we need do is embrace the lessons the Greatest Generation taught us. Then, the corrosive nature of the 60's, which gave us nihilism and hedonism, must be eschewed by all.
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