where did the children go? and whats to become of them?

Hello ATS! this is my first thread, and just a personal opinion so please bare with me. lately i've been feeling down, seems that everything is irrelevant anymore. With everything going on this world and the uncertainties of tomorrow i find my self asking "whats the point" getting up every morning going to a dead end job, dealing with the rigors of traffic, putting myself thru school, to be surrounded by people that are blind to what is really going on in our world, and to thick headed or brainwashed to see reason. it seems to me we are on a crash course to the end the world as we know it so why do what we do everyday. i would think if the end is truly near that we should be happy and enjoy life while we can right? yet here i am dragging myself thru the day everyday trying to remember last time i was truly happy, it was when my daughter was born and when i was a child.

So i try to focus on those things and it helps. remembering scouting thru the woods with my friends, riding our bike all over town, and playing sports in the old chuch field. I decided these our the thing i need to be concentrating on, and thing i should be doing with my daughter. As i reminisce of those days and look around i find myself asking where did the children go? I never see them out on bikes, playing two hand touch in the fields or just outside using their imaginations. Have we lost all hope in society that we no longer feel safe to let our children outside? where is the sense of community? we used to have block parties when i was a kid where the whole block would get together for bbq, drinks, and let the kids play! now days people dont even say hi to their neighbor. Are we as parents to lazy to take the time to take our kids outside and actually pay attention to them? or has society made us so materialistic that we use every ounce of energy to try and keep up with the jones's.have we given up on people as a whole? how do our kids suffer from this?

Our country has become a totally entertainment based society where we live vicariously thru our tvs facebook and twitter, with out much real life social contact. We use these tools as our baby sitters as to distract our children from the love and nurture they need to fully grow as a functioning members of society. we lock them in side and feed them video games, movies, computers and smartphones, as fields that used to be played in grow over. We have turned our kids into zombies, who care nothing of values or respect or integrity. how are we as a nation supposed to thrive in the future if our next generation is completely blind to the values that made this country great. Its been said you don't know where your going if you don;t know where you have been, yet we rewrite our text books to take out unfaltering information that played a major role in what our country is. and where its headed back to.

How am i supposed to look at my daughter with a straight face and tell her she can be whatever she want when she grows up knowing that there won't be anything left here for her? that crooked politicians and corporate interest stole the American dream, and all thats left for her is to exist! How do i tell her that are once great free nation was stripped from us based on fear and lies and that we sat back and did nothing to stop it. that what she reads in her history book is in fact history. That everything america was when i was a child will never be the same. for crying out loud we cant even pledge allegiance to our flag in schools out of fear we may offend someone. how are we teaching integrity or pride if we can be proud of who we are. more so we are taught to be ashamed of who we are. we are slowly turning ourselves against each other out of media based fear. where if you see some one on the side of the road with a flat tire and stop to help they panic and call the police or greet you with a gun. Honestly how do i tell my step daughter that she has to let a man touch her in order for her to be able to get on a plane to go see her dad? doesn't make me feel any safer, in fact makes me wonder what kind of people would want to do a job like that.

i personally believe technology is the worst thing to happen to this country. We raise our kids in a society that teaches them that being smart make you a outcast, that if you don't have the newest iphone or ps3 game that your status in society is diminished. that if you don't have perfect hair perfect teeth and wear a size 0 jeans that there is something wrong with you. what happened to just being happy with yourself? were all unique and were all special, so why do we try to make everyone the same? and in all being the same why do we allow them to follow a bunch of retards like jersey shore cast? We glamorize teen pregnancy but do they ever mention that childs prospects on life? yes some are lucky enough to have parents that as always do as their kids wish witch is part of the problem in the first place, but how are they going to college? or start a job? do anything relevant with their lives. What is truly left for our kids? is it repairable or is it to late. its up to parents aunts uncles grandparents and friends to educate our children, it takes a community to raise a child and its apparent that our lack of community has had a adverse effect on the growth of our children mentally emotionally and socially.

well enough for now i just been having some issues lately and know at least a few of you will feel the same unlike the fox news junkies i know that deny reality. it truly saddens me that america is gone, and our next generation will suffer from it. and we did nothing.

thanks for making it thru the jumbled mess of what i call a thread and note that my bio does explain that im not good about getting my point across,lol please share your thoughts.

There inside playing with stupid cellphones, video games and computers.
They will all grow fat and die at young ages, never matured because they never really lived as a child.

Bravo! Well said - I couldn't agree more.
Parents were probably wondering during the depression about the world they brought their kids into. Will it ever be better than scratching by day to day? Will they even have a future?
My parents were those children back in the 1930's and they came out great. I couldn't have asked for better parents. Yes, they faced adversity - being poor as kids then facing WW2 as young adults. They were the first generation to live under the threat of nuclear weapons and alien invasion movies

My point is adversity makes us stronger. While you might not see many kids riding bikes in your neighborhood there's plenty of young adults out riding trails on mountain bikes. Extreme sports are coming on strong because people want to be outdoors and physically active. Video games grow boring eventually and better, healthier activities will replace them.

Things may look grim but human spirit will always endure. We will always wish to be free and to feel the wind in our faces.
So long as we adults stand to our principles and don't avoid our responsibilities I think things will turn out fine.
If you have no faith how can your kids find it?
It's time we put faith in each other and in the future again.

Great rant though, I know where you're coming from

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY


I think your avatar scared them off O,o

reply to post by Asktheanimals


My Mama was one of those babies. She was born in 1933. My grandmother did not work. ( what woman did then ? lol ) and my grandfather worked on the railroad shoveling coal. They never had any money so the crash did not affect them directly but the lack of work after did. My grandfather passed away in 1936 leaving two daughters and his wife to survive without him. My grandmother took in boarders to make ends meet and my mother told me stories of having to pick coal from the side of the railroad tracks to heat the house so they didnt have to buy any. My fathers family was in Italy at that time and did not immigrate to the US until the 40's during the early days of WWII . They were stone cutters and had a monument business. People were literally dying for their work. LOL. They didnt have any money issues and still dont.

During the Vietnam war when U.S. soldiers were due to return back to their homes for leave or the end of their tour of duty, they exclaimed that they were "goin' back to the world."
i.e. The world = U.S.A.
You begin your post with the address: "Hello ATS!" but then almost every "We" that you use refers to fellow Americans - although ATS is a forum that is not exclusively a congregation of U.S. citizens.
Almost every statement you make, every question you ask are revealed as the questions and statements of a person who is encapsulated - living in a kind of bubble.

The reason for the attitude and character of everyday people whom you observe is easily explained - EGO, self-absorption. The sense of entitlement from the top on down. What you are saying is: "Whatever happened to the American dream?"
The American dream is not exclusively American. It is the dream of all who pledge allegiance to the way of the ego.
There is independence - that is one thing; but the world is really inter-dependent, especially from an ecological point of view.
What gives Americans the right to expect that their society should receive the lion's share of the world's energy supplies and other raw materials? Why are so many Americans unaware of more than an elementary understanding of geography?
The answer = self absorption and a sense of entitlement.

This can be observed in relation to U.S. international relations but the problem is: so it is without, so it is within.
Whatever you observe in the character of everyday people around you in your community or country is also not exclusive to America. This disease has spread to many other countries and infected many other cultures.

Thomas Jefferson asserted that American citizens have inalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The question is though, what is happiness? How is happiness interpreted by the masses? Surely this is a relevant question, because you have said you were happy when you were a child but now you are not.

Happiness = pleasure. Pleasure is a drug. What is the nature of addiction and the nature of addicts? The nature of addiction is to justify all means to seek the object of pleasure, whatever it may be.
I believe that America had the power to gradually transform the whole world into a place that shone with all the principals outlined in her constitution. Why do I say this? Because look at the power for destruction America has created through its military might, armaments manufacture, and the sheer scope of political influence. Observe the aping of American culture all over the world.

Energy can be used for positive or negative purpose.

The big picture reveals that humanity has become a species intent on seeking pleasure at the expense of everything they feel does not concern them, and all that concerns them is that which threatens their pleasure-seeking.
This is why there is so much concern about "end of the world" issues - because it would mean the end of selfish pleasure seeking.

What a shame.

I enjoyed reading your thoughts, and I agree that we do not really see children outside anymore. I was just thinking about this and wondering what the long term effects on our society would be. It seems that we are becoming more isolated, and many people spend most of their time indoors with electronic devices. Also, you hear about schools that no longer offer physical education, and then we wonder why children are overweight.

Try to stay optimistic, but I know how you feel. I guess it will be interesting to see how things really are when our children grow up.

And your post reminded me that at times I would be really annoyed when children were playing outside my window and disturbing my sleep, but now I kind of miss that as I hardly ever see kids anymore, at least not outside.

reply to post by Golden Rule




You make some good points, most American are self absorbed un educated destroyers of the planet, I only speak on behalf of America because it's the only place I've lived. I try to educate my self on the world and geography which is where my sadness comes into play. Most Americans don't see us as the world police that prop up dictators and then murder innocent civilians in the name of liberty some place else. It saddens me that our government has used the media and fear to isolated us from our neighbors ( next door, next state, or next country). Most Americans still believe we are doing good over seas. Most Americans think some talking head is going to save us, when the banks that robbed us all our the ones funding his campaign. besides for you obvious bias of America I believe many can relate to what I wrote regardless of where they are from. and as stated it was a opinion of mine from what I see from where i live. Your right I may not know anything about where you live and that's why I didn't speak on it. Also it depends on how a person interprets the American dream you are quick to assume that I think amercans should control and use up the worlds natural resources. Which is not true. That the beauty of "the American dream" it was your dream you made your own destiny. To assume that because I didn't specify the world that I don't think other countries should be afforded that ability leadsmen to believe you are the ine with the ego. You assume that I'm complaining about possessions when that's what I was speaking out about. These possessions are what ruined America or the" world" my American dream was a sense of community- which we lost, loving families- that are falling apart all around us, a good job to support my family-I'm lucky enough to still have a job until our economy finally collapse, and just all around being a proud American we were told we were the greatest nation in school that we spread democracy and freedom- to find out it's all BS. And half the world like you hate us, and the average citizen would never know. You think they report any thing we do in a negative light on MSM? The brainwashing starts early around here. Sorry I don't know where you are from our enough about to place a opinion on it, but I'd gladly read a thread based on your view. Thanks for reading and responding as arrogant as it may have been.

Originally posted by LongbottomLeaf
There inside playing with stupid cellphones, video games and computers.
They will all grow fat and die at young ages, never matured because they never really lived as a child.

Well to be honest this so called real world is boring. I'll take video games and tech any day over boring old nature.

reply to post by Alyssa


I hope your joking. Thats just sad......

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY

You assume that I'm complaining about possessions when that's what I was speaking out about.

I never mentioned anything about possessions, but I did mention the pursuit of pleasure as an assumed national right though.

Thanks for reading and responding as arrogant as it may have been.

May have been arrogance directed against who? You? Americans? America?

I said that: "The American dream is not exclusively American. It is the dream of all who pledge allegiance to the way of the ego."

That means even non-Americans aggressively pursue the American dream. The term "American Dream" is a patented expression from American culture historically, but the mechanism of how the American dream functions is not the sole property of America.

I mentioned encapsulation. Where are the children, you asked? They are encapsulated. They feel the natural world is boring and so are attracted to the excitement of computer games where they can play aggressive roles in simulated battlegrounds - where only the survival of their avatar matters, and where all of the enemy killed are reduced to the equivalent of money which will increase their powers or abilities.

And after all their victories, they tune into some online porn which flows as freely as spring water from an eternal well.

That is where they are. Yes?

This is what happens when the pleasure principal becomes a Godhead - in ANY culture. This IS what HAS happened. And not only in America - it is spreading like a psychic virus all over the world.

I don't hate America. I understand America. America is an experiment - an experiment that will turn out to be a valuable lesson in what is possible in human societies and what is not. If America goes down, Western civilization goes down with it I feel. What is happening today is a challenge - a challenge to recognize what freedom actually is. No other nation mentions the word freedom as much as America does, so it must be a high priority in terms of American values.

In order to realize real freedom - the kind of freedom that only a high standard of living can provide, then it means that America must reduce its spending on the military which would leave it vulnerable in a world of hostile nations. Herein lies the problem.

Everyone wants to be a big-shot until they are cut down to size. This seems to be one of the facts concerning the ego. It becomes recognized on all scales.

Hi Dirtydonkey! Greetings from your upstairs neighbour in Canada (where we put a U in so many words, thanks to the motherland of Britain.)

In any case, a heartfelt congratulations on studying, working and raising a child! That is one massive undertaking. Been there too, so I know you deserve a banquet in your honour--seriously!

Secondly, your stressors in school will push you down, especially at this time of year. Do be sure to surround yourself with positive people, because when under stress it doesn't take much for negative thinking to get the upper hand in a group. Choose your friends and don't allow any naysayers to put you down.

That said, I do understand how dismal the future looks. Sometimes it seems that the more you know, the less hope there is. But hope and steadfastedness and optimism is all we have sometimes. You'll find some sympathetic ears here on ATS, among the other kind too.

I do find that new parents are really trying their best nowadays, trying to expose their children to all sorts of options and programs of both guided and unstructured play. (Guides, ringette, soccer, baseball, karate classes, playdates and on and on) They are aware of the risks to safety too, so I don't envy them. My parents used to send me out to play in the street where umpteen sets of eyes watched us. But families were larger when I was young with more kids and playmates. So it's all relative. Again congratulations. If I'm not intruding, care to share what kind of studies you're undertaking?