We: You've no work ethic, are weak and stupid Them: We can't live in this world with your guilt
We: You'll be the generation of high culture's ruin
Them: We can't fix the problems that you've built
Every new life introduced into this world is a gift
Every new life brought into this place is a curse
How can we ever understand each other if we lie
How can we expect any generation to save earth
When we have done so much to wound it
When we couldn't fix the flaws we inherited
The only answer is tiny steps but be warned
We might be trying to flee the tsunami
“We hear a great deal about the rudeness of the ris-
ing generation. I am an oldster myself and might be
expected to take the oldsters' side, but in fact I have
been far more impressed by the bad manners of par-
ents to children than by those of children to parents.
Who has not been the embarrassed guest at family
meals where the father or mother treated their
grown-up offspring with an incivility which, offered
to any other young people, would simply have termi-
nated the acquaintance? Dogmatic assertions on mat-
ters which the children understand and their elders
don't, ruthless interruptions, flat contradictions,
ridicule of things the young take seriously some-
times of their religion insulting references to their
friends, all provide an easy answer to the question
"Why are they always out? Why do they like every
house better than their home?" Who does not prefer
civility to barbarism?”
