Last week a conversation with my son took an interesting turn when we were discussing the current social events and he asked, "As a 76-year old man, who was a 1950's teenager, what goes through your mind watching the unrest in our nation today?" With little thought, my first response was........
"I feel sad for young people."
Upon deeper thought, I would be a fool to make some blanket statement that 'life' sixty-years ago trumps today in all aspects; simply not true. Off the top of my head, I'll take today's health care knowledge and I'll embrace interstate driving over yesteryear. With regards to race relations, I believe the Blacks today are just finding a voice to bring to the light of day what was going on back in the day.
In my humble opinion, the greatest injustice done to Blacks (today) is the horrible education systems in the inner city. Whites move to the 'burbs,' city industries fold and Blacks are left behind to deal with fewer job opportunities, decaying properties and declining educational institutions. Add those factors to the single-parenting challenge found in many Black homes and you have young people who have no hope, no coping abilities and no skills. These young people usually make stupid choices. One is having children out of wedlock while many other bad choices lead to incarceration. Their social skills are terrible, their logic is faulted and their (faultless) ignorance is apparent.
The 'only' hope for America is a total commitment to our schools, especially the inner city schools.
Oh, there is one thing back-in-the-day (1950's) that beats the hell out of today...family anchors of loyalty, support and love was much greater back then !! Let me give one example: After Grandpa died, sooner rather than later Grandma moved in with one of her children's' family...never heard of those independent or assisted living homes.
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