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Youth needs nurturing for sake of our future
- By Michelle Ramirez
- Trail Staff Writer
- Over Thanksgiving break, I had the pleasure of spending all of Thanksgiving day with my four-month-old nephew. While the main course of our dinner slowly cooked in my brother’s modest kitchen and wine glasses were filled with the evening’s beverage, I sat on the couch in my brother’s home and did anything to make my nephew, Brady, laugh.
Everyone thought I would, for sure, be the first to pop out a couple of kids, but my brother surprised the family once again with the radical idea of becoming a father. Little Brady’s arrival was a surprise indeed, but it turned out to be a blessing, rather than a burden. It is wonderful having a baby in the family again. The innocence of childhood is something that is lost as we grow older. Maybe there is no room for innocence in the harsh pragmatism of reality. Maybe we just lose sight of the simple things as our lives are cluttered with complications. Whatever it is, watching my little nephew laugh at funny faces gives me a small taste of what it’s like to not have a care in the world.
I am just an aunt, but I can’t help but wonder what Brady’s life will be like when he gets older. My profound prediction is that this country will be in worse shape than when I was an infant. It will be interesting to see how his generation will adapt to the changing world.
Brady was already born in debt to this country and will pay in more ways than one as the world’s energy crisis pokes its evil head out of the bowls of American and foreign soil.
He will grow up in a technology-driven society where every aspect of life can be converted to a digital form. The wooden horses, G.I. Joes and toy cars that were traditionally given to young boys in the spring of their youth will be replaced by action-packed video games and computer programs.
By the time he is old enough to attend college, every corner of the world will be filled with people. Everyone will be swarming and writhing against each other, each struggling to find his or her own space among the masses. Brady’s voice will be one in billions.
It is hard to say what the future holds, but I can’t help but imagine what it will be like to grow up in a country that is currently in the midst of a war, in debt and standing on an earth on the brink of exhaustion.
I don’t mean to sound pessimistic when I talk about the future, I just have concerns about what life will be like for my nephew when he is my age. I just don’t want the vision of my nephew growing up to be a little gentleman dirtied by the perversions of today’s society.
The innocence of childhood will never be lost, but the importance of youth and raising our children to be good, kind people has already been lost in the midst of the chaos that infests the world today. It makes me sick to see television commercials that showcase starving children in Third World countries, begging patrons for pennies to put shoes on their feet and food in their mouths. Imagine how different life would be if all the world’s children were taken care of.
- Trail Staff Writer