O.T. What did you do for fun as a kid? Pre Nintendo... - Page 7

Hodie,


Sorry, but I must disagree a bit.   I attended post-graduate school with some of the worst miscreants I ever met (until meeting some of the schmucks in schutzhund).  The first writing assignment  during the first 2 weeks was for NO CREDIT, and consisted of such things as  finding the authority for the number of justices on the Supreme Court, or reading a Law Review article in order to answer simple questions about the contents.  The miscreants in that school actually razored out the pages of Law Review volumes,and stole (hid) books, etc. , so no one else could get the answer!!!  This was for a NO CREDIT assignment!!!    I recall actually wondering whether  they would resort to actually killing the competition at exam time.   I was shocked and appalled at the pit-vipers I found myself boxed in with for three years. Admittedly, there were only a few of these miscreants, but their antics colored the entire experience, not to mention creating a very tense atmosphere. 

  We have always had such schmucks among us, but, as Moons and others have pointed out, they were not tolerated, as they seem to be today.   People were held accountable for their actions.   Families had some control over members' behaviors.   The old lady on the corner knew who you were, who your parents were, and knew their telephone number.  She would call them and report your shenanigans in a New York minute.  Even schmucks refrained from bad behavior, because they didn't want to have to face  daddy, or mama, or granma, because they all had "The Belt," and knew how to use it.   As much as the physical punishment, we didn't want to have the embarassment, or embarassment to our families.  These kids today have no shame.

 Granted,  back in the day, the kid who had the cards stacked against him/her from day one was cut some slack, BUT, no one said, "poor abused thing.  You never had a chance, so we absolve you of your heinous crimes."   Those folks were either forced to get the mental health care they needed....or forced to join the Army to avoid jail.  Either way, they ended up with and learning  some discipline, and learned that there were "repercussions and consequences" for their actions.   There was no "Twinkie Defense,"  "PMS Defense," or "Black Rage Defense" when we were growing up.   

People had a greater sense of a responsibility for themselves and to their community than the kids coming up today.   I don't think many of them can even spell the word "loyalty,"  without DragonSpeak to do it for them.