"The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants of the households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers." I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.~attributed to Hesiod (8th century B.C.)
What would happen if Socrates changed his prospective of how he saw the children that he speaks of as being disrespectful, and viewed them in a different light? I’m thinking the stress levels of all concerned would have been lowered!
So it seems that the youth of today are just like the youth of times gone by. What can we do about behavior we do not like? I guess setting examples are always good, or perhaps it could be as simple as just being present. Living in the now and taking precious time together.
There are so many obstacles in this busy world of ours that get in the way of being present or being “there”. I wonder what would happen if we all learnt how to live in the moment, in the now. Not worry about the past as that has gone and cannot be changed, and the future comes soon enough without focusing on it too much.
While we are lucky to have children around us, we should take time and live in the now. I know that cannot be a 24hour place to be, but for a short time daily would be a good start. Don’t let the moments fly by, they are not ever retrievable.
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