High School "differences" then and now

I read a post on my FB wall, and actually re-posted it (which I don't usually do) as I thought it interesting.

It got me thinking about another subject though - Differences - fights - arguments - etc...







Here's the original post and my comment I added:





Don't usually "re-post" stuff like this... but this one is SO true. The world was a totally different place when I was a kid/teenager.... but imo, a better place. We may have locked our house, but we never locked our vehicles.

In the 70s I ...used to walk several blocks to the liquor store to buy candy. Always walked 2 blocks to and home from school - and that was when I was 5, 6, 7, 8 IN LOS ANGELES ! In high school in the 80s we never worried about someone coming to school with a gun and mowing down dozens of people. That was absurd ! When there was trouble between kids, we all met down at "the wash" after school and a good (semi) clean fight would usually make amends with 2 who were pissed at each other - the next week, they'd usually be good friends despite beating the snot out of each other at the wash ! No guns, knives - "real death" was not on the minds of my generation. I watched one fight that was really bloody and quite painful to watch... after they were done, the one teen extended his hand to the guy on the ground and helped him up. Apparently they solved their differences... just the way it was back then. Today, they just come "packin' " and kill everyone.

Was this an isolated thing at my high school in the 80s, or does anyone else here around my age remember those days too ?

Perhaps another question to entertain is: Why, when, and how did things go from "I'll meet you behind the bleachers after school" for a good pounding, to "Gonna bring my Gat tomorrow and take out everyone who dissed me" ?????



While I don't encourage violence or fighting, it seemed to help some restless kids get it out of their system by beating the crap out of each other back then. Today anger = death. I just don't get it.

I am surprised by nothing. The world is dying and degrading.

Also, we are definitely progressing technology-wise. This has happened before in the past with things like the industrial revolution and also other times in history when new inventions are being made or improved. People like to see how they can change something. In 20 or 30 years things are going to be different than they are now. This happens throughout history and it doesn't surprise me that it is happening now. Changes can also happen quickly, like I said.

Like I said earlier, people are just gonna get worse... Well sorta. Deadly fights and arguments are not new. Maybe they have gone up? I don't know. Not everything was all happiness and rainbows and sunshine at any time period after the fall. People have killed each other. Raped each other. Abused each other. Manipulated each other for many years.

Also, things are getting worse in other ways too. People are still corrupt, which isn't new btw.

There are very young children who feel depressed, suicidal, and with low self esteem and self image. There probably have been kids for years who have had this, however, I wouldn't be surprised if this is going up.

But I'm being a technical party pooper. I ruin things. I'm good at that. I'm making myself sad now. :(I should stop now. I can go on and on. I tend to have a dark view of the world at times...

No worries xenonlion !   

As my comrades here know, I tend to get philosophical with topics (many topics not even worth pondering).. just the way my weird brain works (or doesn't work). My thoughts on this matter were not so much on the "big picture" - spanning all of mankind's history... rather, I see a huge difference in just 25 years. (guess I'm talking how old men talk... sigh)....
I kind of steered the whole thing over to one single topic and that was fighting. I never got into fights as I've always been a "peace-maker" PLUS I've always been a wimp... thus avoiding fights. No one likes pain, right ?

It just seems since my Grand-Dad was in high school clear up until the 80s, guys and gals alike took their differences out to a "special" place to duke it out. Then in the 90s the first school shootings became common-place. Now it's the norm. Solving problems with extreme violence was never a solution in the "old days". Now it's the average.
I just wonder what happened in the hearts of human teenagers that moved them from a simple fight behind the P.E. building, to firing a 1000 rounds into that same P.E. building.

You're right in that 1. Things have been bad since the fall, and are only getting worse.
and 2. That this is to be expected as Scripture speaks of man's evil growing darker towards the end-times.

Is this perhaps the reason for the sudden change in the way kids handle disputes ? From bloodying a face with a fist in the 80s to an AK47 in the 90s ?

Just interesting to think about. I'm not trying to be depressing or upset anyone, and if this thread is too dark, I apologize. I just think about things all the time... and today's thoughts were brought on by that meme.

Anyone else have any thoughts ?

I don't live in a big city, so I don't need security to get into my school (though I'm told that may change soon). However, we've done lockdown practices, because stuff can happen.

I've had a couple of small scraps at school, too, and they were done when they were done. I generally stayed out of trouble.

G/F, did you have the recent school shooting in mind when you reposted this?

It's only dark because I made it that way. I apologize.

I love learning about history so I was thinking about dictators and genocides and doomsday cults...

I don't get into fights with other people. I fight myself and I debate with myself. I hurt myself sometimes which I don't like.

I don't think a lot of school fights nowadays will have guns. At least not that I know of. Maybe some. Even if it's on the news it doesn't speak for most cases. Only some. Most school fights I have been near include punching, pushing, pulling hair, things like that...

School shootings are a little different than a school fight to me.

When I was in public school we would have to go through a metal detector sometimes. They would also have to search through your stuff. This wasn't an everyday thing though.

I don't know what to say right now besides what had already been said.

Oh yeah!

Back in my day, we could buy a candy bar for a nickel. Nowadays y'all whippersnappers gotta buy em for $1.50.

When I was your age, we didn't have all these fancy gadgets!

Also, of course the pic is true. Its all you knew. Years ago, you were amazed with the things at the time and were happy with them. New things were made, people got a little older and looked back at their wonderful childhood. And this will repeat over and over and over and over again until the end. The end. X.x I think my brain needs help. Life is so repetitive.

Quote :

G/F, did you have the recent school shooting in mind when you reposted this?

I'm not aware of any recent shootings. My comments were based upon the fact that these shootings have become commonplace in American schools now... compared to "my" day, when Gas was 75 cents a gallon, and any differences were handled with a good a$$ beating.... not a cowardly shooting.

This is the first article I found about it, although it doesn't contain much info: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/05/26/ucsb-mental-illness

I was reading this thread and this song came up on my mp3.  Very appropriate. 

^ Love that song ! One of my favorite GC songs.

It really is sad. Seems in the latest case, there's some mental illness involved. But in many shootings, these kids were fine, and had average home lives, etc. I have an observation (as I always do)...

When I was a teen in the 80s, I had bullies I hated - but I used to draw pictures of them being decapitated or hit by a car or whatever (very graphic drawings that teachers would usually take away from me when I got caught drawing - haha)
But I'd never DO anything to anyone... seems we had something different back then (no, not a conscience), we had the ability to SEE into the future and realize there was a huge price to pay for such a horrible response to a bully or a jerk.
Seems a lot of kids today (a lot, not ALL) have lost the ability to see the costs of their actions. All the families who will be affected, all the fellow students and friends who will have serious emotional scars for the rest of their lives, the parent(s) of the shooter - who always say "I never seen this coming... if only I ____".

Is it really a great solution to give bullies "payback" then end the payback in your own suicide ? Who wins ? No one - everyone loses. Is it a great solution to meet behind "Homeroom class" and pound each other ? No... but at least no one dies, and no one goes to jail. Again, I don't advocate fighting, but teens have been fighting over differences (and sometimes becoming friends afterwards) for decades ! Perhaps centuries.

I still do not understand the huge jump from hundreds of years of "fist fights" to loading up like Rambo and slaying everyone in your path... unless of course, you're playing a video game. This brings up a whole other can of worms about whether or not these merciless video games that are SO realistic are partially to blame. Other factors are always a part, but I've seen nephews playing these games where you score by shooting as many people as you can.  I told my nephew it was very disturbing to watch him rack up a body count with guns of his choosing... he said "it's just a game, it ain't real life or anything"

Anyone's thoughts ?

Awesome! One thing I disagree with is computers. And I was on the "net" even then with my Commodore 64 computer and dial-up modem calling bulletin boards. So this year marks my 30th year being on-line. We used to swap games and post on forums just like this. However, since it was dial up you got lots of busy signals and had to wait your turn to get on a bulletin board. Awesome times!

^ haha I remember that ! My cousin had an old Apple 2 (something) in the very early 90s and I used to go to "chat rooms" and argue religion (back when I believed I could save the world)... was pretty funny though. The old dial up sound, the being dropped constantly... I'm starting to really like the technology of today more and more as I think about those days -  

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

when Gas was 75 cents a gallon

Was that "regular" or "unleaded"?   I had a car that ran on regular. Later on I had to buy STP's "Lead Substitute" and put in the tank every time I gassed up.

The message of, have it your way, has permeated the culture to such a high degree we don't know what to do when we can't so we lash out. You know, I remember reading and hearing people warn that the breakdown of the family would have dire consequences and a lot of people laugh, still do, but I wonder. I work with troubled teen boys and well, it seems to be a direct correlation. They have broken families, often broken lives yet they seem to think they are the center of the universe and everyone else should work to support them.

My wife and I were watching a forensic show about a teenager who killed his parents. A relative interviewed says of him that his "parents loved him, they gave him everything he wanted..." - I swear those were her exact words !!


Ummm, may I just say that if you are a parent and you are giving your kid(s) everything they want - YOU ARE NOT A GOOD PARENT NOR ARE YOU SHOWING YOUR KIDS TRUE LOVE. You're creating kids who will live their lives "expecting" from everyone around them, rather than unselfish, giving people.



My goodness, people just don't get it !

 

We are NOT our children's friends, we're their parents.

AMEN there !!!

When I married Lisa, it was a package deal. I got a great wife, a 9 year old and a 3 year old.
The GREATEST advice Lisa gave me for parenting was "You're not raising kids, you're raising adults" - in other words, too many people spend too much time letting kids be kids (and there's a time and place for that), but if you raise your kids as kids clear into their teens, you're letting them down and not preparing them for a world that is gonna EAT them alive. Sure, let them play, be silly and be kids... but raise them as "adults in training" - teaching them survival, wisdom, Scripture, how to balance a checkbook, etc... we taught our kids how to balance income VS spending and bills when they were like 12 and 13.

Today they are very thankful for that effort we put into them, rather than most of their friends who have NO idea what they're doing out in the "real world".

As for being their friends... doesn't happen when they're in the "training" years, growing up... but there can be a sense of friendship and even double-dates after they've hit their 20s and are established as adults surviving in this world themselves.

Scripture has a lot to say about this: Solomon wrote that if you don't use the rod of correction on your child, if you don't punish that child, you HATE that child. Those are strong words to people who think, "I better not be too hard on him/her, cuz I don't want to break the spirit" or whatever they're thinking when they DON'T punish their kids. Solomon said it: If you do not take these little sinful beings and train them, discipline them, and ready them for this screwed up world - you're in essence NOT LOVING them.

Heavy thoughts.

It's so annoying when people whine and complain about everything. I don't like being around people when they are like that. It annoys me. Humans....

Redeemed Fool wrote:

The message of, have it your way, has permeated the culture to such a high degree we don't know what to do when we can't so we lash out. You know, I remember reading and hearing people warn that the breakdown of the family would have dire consequences and a lot of people laugh, still do, but I wonder. I work with troubled teen boys and well, it seems to be a direct correlation. They have broken families, often broken lives yet they seem to think they are the center of the universe and everyone else should work to support them.

There does seem to be this consensus in our Western culture that you should never have to suffer. If something/someone hurt you then it is somebody else's fault and they should be made to pay. Never mind that life isn't fair, I just shouldn't be inconvenienced or made to suffer in anyway. If I can't have it my way than you are doing something wrong! It seems like a symptom of a much bigger problem that will lead to our inevitable demise.

xenonlion wrote:

It's so annoying when people whine and complain about everything. I don't like being around people when they are like that. It annoys me. Humans....

Not to be picky, but is this a complaint?

I always wonder about oh snap. Snap what? Or Who? It's a who isn't it? I'll snap 'em.

Driven wrote:

xenonlion wrote:

It's so annoying when people whine and complain about everything. I don't like being around people when they are like that. It annoys me. Humans....

Not to be picky, but is this a complaint?

to quote Liongirl from another post "oh snap"!

Nope.  In fact, it's usually the opposite when I use it. I usually say it when something good happens like "Oh snap! It's Friday!" or "Oh snap! It's the end of the school year!" and sometimes I'll say it when I get startled or if something weird happens. However, if something weird happens I'm more likely to say "Wha????" or "What did I just witness?" and if it's really disturbing, I'll say "My eyes have been violated..."

Also, it's not snap anyone or anything. haha You guys are too much! haha  

I always thought snap was a substitute for another word.  You know, "poop"...

ishmael81 wrote:

I always thought snap was a substitute for another word.  You know, "poop"...

Yo, snap!!!