BY RACHEL LYNN ROGG
Just as Howard Beale, the frazzled TV newscaster in the movie "Network," once proclaimed "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore," I have to say that I am intolerably sick of my generation's culture and lack of motivation.
I can't take it anymore.It's not that I am in the least anyone special, just a 20-year-old beginning my second year of college. The culture of my generation is engraved in me as well. But I've had it, and I know that others have, too.
After sitting down and talking with my 89-year-old great-grandmother, I've realized what our society lacks today, the reason we are put on Earth, and how we are supposed to make our everyday decisions: morals.
Kids these days -- I am allowed to say kids because I am one -- have absolutely no integrity, no respect, no morals. They are not all to blame for this, as their parents are major factors.
Our generation's parents didn't have much growing up. They were taught to work for what they wanted, that parents were not their friends, and that nothing will ever get handed to them. They hit life head-on, earned the big bucks, and then had kids.
This is where the problem started.
They resented having to do everything on their own and not having a friendly relationship with their parents. So, for their own children, they thought, "I'll just help them out a little."
The "little" help that they decided on was a brand-new car for their child's 16th birthday, contesting teachers who gave their children anything less than a fit grade, and waiting in line for days just so their 9-year-old could have the newest videogame system before their friends' kids got one.
Any child analyzing a parent like this would assume they were great, but this is where the problem lies. This is where the lack of motivation creeps in, where living with Mom and Dad until our late 20s seems normal, and where every parent is secretly at war over whose kid has more stuff.
Media also play a major role, as every channel is somehow displaying premarital sex, foul language, drug and alcohol use, or Paris Hilton. Honestly, who cares about Paris Hilton? How many Pussycat Dolls are there really? What the hell are Bratz dolls?
I have a theory that these three things combined with a few others have created a mega-generation in not only teens, but tweens, that are entirely stuck on themselves. I cannot recall how many times I have walked into Abercrombie and have seen moms picking out thongs for their 11-year-old daughters, or have gone to a movie where 13-year-old boys are sharing a fifth and talking crap to elders.
Even my generation is sickened by this new era in tweens. Why do they want to look and act as if they're 20-year-olds? Most of them look older than me. When I was 10, I was shopping at Limited Too and wearing Keds.
Enjoy your youth, enjoy not having responsibility, and enjoy being a kid.
With Barbie out, and hoochies in, the younger generation has no one to look up to -- except my generation, which is busy doing nothing, or looking up people on Facebook.
I know that everyone has been secretly aware of all of this for a couple of years now but is afraid to mention it.
Parents: Demonstrate a steady work ethic so that your teens will follow. Try not to be so buddy-buddy; we need parents, not more friends.
Teens: Don't become a boomerang kid. Get motivated; real life is coming fast.
Tweens: Take off the makeup, put down the beer, and be a kid.
If these three generations could combine for the good -- and stop caring about Paris Hilton -- maybe things could actually go back to being normal again.