Originally posted by twobone
First off, thank you all for the warm welcome. It's nice to find like-minded individuals who aren't so brain-washed by all the "American Glory" hype. Now, don't get me wrong when I use that terminology. I like the country I live in. Why do I use the word "like", you may ask, and not "love", as so many devout patriots use these days. Because I'm more attached to the idea that happiness is a state of mind...not a state of location. Meaning, if I were born and raised in Budapest, I may be just as happy, maybe more so. Now, someone coming to this country from a more oppressive country may make the argument that I, being born in a "free" country wouldn't know what it's like to have to battle for freedoms and liberties, or even simple neccesities that we take for granted here, and they would be absolutely correct. But, as I mentioned earlier, true happiness is a state of mind and spirit. Just ask Joe Blow millionare, who to every person looking at him through the other side of the glass, thinks he has the American Dream in the palm of his hand...why did he just blow his brains out in the garage of his 1.5 million dollar estate? I'll tell you why. Because there is not one material thing on this planet that can fill the void in the human soul. No amount of money, power, women, drugs, or whatever is going to make an empty man feel complete. These are distractions to the real matter at hand...making the spiritual connection that awakens the mind. Instead of teaching this to our children, they're taught to work hard and strive for nothing but success, and never let life slow you down. Then the next thing they know, they've been through college, got that executive position they've been working around the clock for, they've got the house they've been wanting, driving a nice car, like the one their neighbor bought two weeks before, and everything looks great...on the outside. On the inside...the marriage is in shambles, the drinking is getting more and more frequent because the family and the work pressure's finally starting to take it's toll, the oldest child is starting to do drugs, and the youngest is experiencing signs of emotional trauma because of what's happening in the home. Everything's spinning out of control. Then comes the divorce, the termination from the job because of the constant decline of performance, the oldest kid is in rehab and the youngest is going to live with the other parent. Now they're alone one night in the house that's being forclosed on and all of a sudden it hits them...they lived so fast and so hard to get it "all"...they forgot to experience life along the way. And in what seemed to be an instant of time, "all" of it had been taken away. They forgot about the wife or husband, they forgot about the kids, they forgot all about the important things in life. I believe that most of the time the important things are missed because they're never really taught. Children are taught to be productive, not intuitive. Aside from school, what do they have occupying a majority of their time?..TV. All kids see on TV is how beautiful you should be, or how you should live like this or that...sex, violence, and any other form of crap you can think of. Sure, there are educational programs, but let's face it...leave a child alone to decide whether to watch the Crocodile Hunter or Yo MTV Raps and see which one they spend time with. I personally have grown to despise TV, or the "brain receptacle" as I prefer to call it. Mindless activity that eats away at the very essence of human creativity. Another distraction from life.

i believe it boils down to this, it's a sign of the times.