Friday 25 January 2008

What a time it was! What a time it is!


Their eyes so bright
full of light and innocence
looking for loving care

Their smile so wide
fresh like the new born leaves
in the clean air of the spring

Their soul so huge
living between here and beyond
in an own world of magic and dreams

Many voices raise nowadays about the future of the planet, we all seem to be concerned and worried because of the developement of the enviromental problems. It is indeed a serious matter and it is good to see some reactions to "slow down" the now certain effects of the global warming.

Anyway there's something about us, mankind, our way of life, our social and political environement much more worrying than that. If we really want to think of the future, of the world next generations are going to heritate, we should really start thinking about those generations themselves. Why are we so obviously ignoring the state of our children and youth? Anorexical young girls, suicide rates, violence and drugs, border line, bulliying and mobbing at schools (or even amok cases), consumerism, school failure, teenagers falling dead at their computers, and a long range of less impressive symptoms of lack of mental health have become a usual part of the news.

What's happening to our children? Who is to be blamed? How long is it going to take until we realise that the real problem is not that there is no future for them but that there is no future without them? When is our society going to react? Are we also going to try and "slow down" this process as well when it is already irreversible?

Women aren't aware of the power they have always had through raising their children. It has always been one of the most important asignements of the society and yet I guess anyone saying they should stay at home and take care of the little ones would be considered to be an enemy of women emantipation. What a lie!

When I remember my own chilhood and compare it with the childhood nowadays I see substancial changes that could explain why our kids are growing sick at heart. I have already mentioned the most important one, there was a mother there, women assumed their role and were non stop in charge. But there have always been motherless children who were able to develope.

In fact it is our way of living drifting appart from Nature that is causing the most important damage. But even though there are several possibilities to adapt and we could have made the best out of it. If we consider the whole and remember how we lived we'll see some important differences. I still remember playing ring a ring in big groups singing and laughing, those songs have turned into beeping and the group life into isolation. Regarding the toys, we used to have teddy bears and sweet dolls. Nowadays our children play with "monsters", ugly plastic creatures which could be a product (and for sure cause) of nightmares. Instead of party games there's screens (again in isolation) offering more blood than wit, instead of movement, sitting.
How long are we going to wait for better times to come, instead of doing something? I am conviced there are plenty of us keeping their eyes wide open. I do believe in the human evolution. I couldn't live without this hope.

3 comments:

THE EMERALD ISLANDER said...

I like your poem and hope there will be more. And what a lovely picture!

THE EMERALD ISLANDER said...

When I wrote my first comment, there were only the poem and the photo in the post.
But now there is also a very thoughtful and interesting article.
I agree with everything you say in it and it is indeed very sad that our society has gone down the wrong road.
It might well be too late to change things back for good on a large and global scale, but I firmly believe that we all can make a difference in our own lives, every day, and with often small steps and simple decisions and gestures.
Everyone has some influence on the lives and thinking of others, even if we often don't realise it. And if we keep doing the right things every day, others will notice and, hopefully, follow our example.

PATRICIA CARR said...

I agree with your comments about the devaluing of the role of the mother in society and the negative effects this is having on our children. Having been lucky enough to to be in a position to be at home for both work and raising my own son , I can understand the difficulties there are for women today who were not as fortunate as myself.
But the power of advertising and the media are now raising our children. These are the new 'mothers'. And they yield as much power as the church did in the past , if not more! Most homes have television and these are the 'babysitters'.The subtle affects and insidious 'brainwashing' that we are exposing our children to through both TV and playstation games along with print media teen magazines etc is frightening. It's difficult to know how we can stand against this except in our own personal lives and perhaps also by making our opinions known.