If you’re over sixty you can remember the day Nikita Kruschev stood behind the podium at the United Nations and pounded his shoe on the desk and proclaimed that our children would live under communism.
We all shuddered in disbelief and vowed to never let that happen. We went on about our daily lives and mostly forgot about that day, never again giving his absurd statement a second thought.
We built up a strong military, the strongest the world had ever known, the Berlin Wall fell, we out spent the Russians militarily and communism seemed to be on the run.
For most of us, life was good. We were living in the best of times, most of us had good jobs and were able to care for our families and raise our kids in a fashion that was the envy of the world.
Even though life always gives us setbacks and creates challenges to overcome, we had the financial resources to overcome our hardships. We were certainly much better off than any of our ancestors had ever been.
However, unnoticed, trouble was looming over the horizon. In the process of building a better world, we had developed technology that far surpassed anything anyone thought possible even a few years previous. By most standards, we were living a life of luxury and ease. Technology had given us the tools to perform most daily tasks in just minutes instead of hours, leaving many with more free time and money to pursue endeavors that would give them more enjoyment and freedom.
While enjoying the good life, and working hard to finance it, we forgot about our spiritual foundation. We no longer prayed or went to church, we neglected our civic and fraternal organizations that had given us much to be thankful for.
We no longer remembered the universal truths that never change, and if ignored will most certainly lead to not only personal disaster, but national decline as well. We assumed, that since we knew right from wrong, our descendants did as well.
Most of us swore to never sound like our parents and quit giving the age old advice that was drilled into us daily.
Beginning in the sixties, drugs began filtering into our country from southeast Asia, slowly people began to experiment with them. As a result, more and more hard drugs entered the scene, affecting the behavior and work ethics of many.
At one time, most members of congress, as well as most government employees were military veterans. Their pay was minimal, they performed their duties because they were patriotic, not because they were receiving a big paycheck. They believed in America, and they had a more conservative outlook.
Public education began a slow decline, at one time the schools taught patriotism, and prayers were allowed in school, it wasn’t a crime to mention God and most teachers were of a conservative nature.
Slowly, all that changed. A perfect storm was brewing. Slowly, and unnoticed, what was right became wrong, and what was wrong became right. The world slowly was turned upside down.
This change largely remained unnoticed until we were into the twenty-first century. By that time , many people had become indoctrinated into believing things that weren’t and couldn’t be true. They had grown up believing these untruths and to them it made perfect sense because that is what they had been taught and it became truth.
You tell a lie long enough and it becomes the truth.
In creating a better life for our descendents, we unintentionally created an entitlement society. Not only because of government interference, but because of union contracts as well. Many began to think they were entitled to whatever they wanted without paying their dues and working for it. It just seemed natural that we could have whatever we wanted and there were no dues to pay.
We developed this instant gratification mentality. Because of the internet and cell phones everyone began to expect to have whatever they wanted in a matter of seconds or days. The ease of obtaining credit made it possible to buy whatever we needed on impulse, no longer having to wait until we had the money in hand.
Many young people had acquired as much in ten years or less what it had taken their parents all their lives to accumulate.
The politicians soon learned to feed off this, they began making promises none of them could keep, voters believed it, and soon forgot when the elected politicians didn’t deliver on their promises.
Most times, the poor, the ones whom the political elites promised to help were the ones who were hurt the most. The end result is many people have become slaves to the government, voting for the one who promises the most and all the while giving up more and more freedom.
As a result of losing their spiritual base, more and more people were turning to drugs and alcohol, making the problem worse.
How can this all be changed?
I think the answer is pretty obvious. If we don’t all work to make the necessary changes, Nikita Kruschev will be correct.
Gary has been a writer/ photographer for over 20 years, specializing in nature, landscapes and studying native cultures. Besides visiting most of the United States, he has traveled to such places as Egypt, the Canary Islands, much of the Caribbean. He has studied the Mayan Cultures in Central America and the Australian Aboriginal way of life.Photography has given him the opportunity to observe life in many different parts of the world!
He has published several books about the various cultures he has observed.
For more information and a link to his hardcover and Ebooks, and contact information: please check his website, http://www.journeysthrulife.com.
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Each generation from the beginning of our country has contributed to what our country has become. By the same token, no one is perfect. Consequently, each generation has done and will continue to perform acts that it would have been better if some other course of action was taken.
The baby boomers have contributed much and have been blamed for the decline of America. What is the true story?
Thinking Between the Lines 