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The
"NOWGENERATION'!..
What IsWrong?
by
Roderick C. Meredith
Why do the "good times" sough t by young people often turn sour?
' 'IJUST
want to have fun like
a ll the other kids. I want
to be free.
I
want to expe–
rience life and not have to be
tied down by a dull job a nd a
dull marriage. "
Sound famil iar?
lt
ought to. For a whole genera–
tion millions of teenagers and
young 20s have wanted fun and ful–
fillment. And they want
it
NOW
and they each want it for
ME.
A genuine cu ltural revolulion
has been in the making. In the last
20 years a literal ftood of books has
appeared on und erstanding and
improving the
se/f.
We have been
abruptl y exposed lo greater accep–
tance of sexuality both in and out
of marriage, a new preoccupation
with the body and physical fitness
and, above all, to a frantic search
for the :'good life," ripe with lei–
su re, new experiences, fun and
·games.
Wher.e has it all been leading?
The Results
The " now generation" has fallen
far short of achieving genuine hap–
piness and self-fulfillment. Life–
experiments have not been self- ful –
filling. Many are shocked to find
themselves with a broken marriage,
a ruined ca r eer o r simply a
depressed state of mind.
For teenagers, the "now genera–
lion" philosophy has produced
booming rates of suicide, new vene–
real diseases, raging alcohol and
drug abuse. Millions of unmarried
teenage gi rl s become pregnant.
November / December 1983
lnstead of rearing children they
conceive, hundreds.of thousands of
these "me generation" girls allow
life to be snuffed out by abortion!
With unremitting emphasis on
fun and on se/j-fulfillme nl, the
"now" or "me generation" philo–
sophically presupposes that eco–
nomic well-being is virtually a
right, to be guaranteed by the gov–
ernment. This assumption has run
into trouble-even in societies of
relative abundance.
According to the 1980
U.S.
ceo–
sus, there are 1.8 million children
in America alone who have no adult
al home after school. And there are
millions of "latchkey" children
worldwide.
Why?
Well , lhe story goes, the molhers
need to work.
Or the farnily "needs" to bave a
bigger income so they can have the
"good life."
Maybe the woman has to work
because she is divorced. Or, per–
haps, her husband
deserted
her.
Again,
WHY?
Because i.n the vast majority of
divorce cases one or both parties lo
the marr iage are lrying to "get" all
they can, and "give" as little as
possible. That certainly has been
my experience as one involved in
hundreds
of marriage counselings
over the past 30 years!
And desertion by lhe husband
and father is an even more obvious
example
of total selfishness
and
thoughtlessness. A
U.S.
congres–
sional report showed that 79 per–
cent of divorced fathers nationwide
do
NOT
support their own children.
Pure selfishn.ess
in most cases.
In another area where children
are seriously affected, a shocking
article from the April 1983
Ladies
Home Journal
reports the horrify–
ing facts regarding child pornogra–
phy. The article quotes Bruce Rit–
ter, founder of New York City
1
s
Coveuant House, a nonprofit youth
shelter: "This sickness exists. " he
states, "because a small segment of
society wants it , another segment
profits by it, and lhe rest aren ' t
doing anything about it. "
lt 's hard to believe that that kind
of mind exists!
But it does.
And, picase, let' s not
ASSUME
that all of the rapists, robbers, drug
addicts, drug dealers, pornogra–
pbers, child pornographers, adul–
terers, wife beaters, child abusers
and homosexuals are out on sorne
ill-defined fringe of society!
Emphasis on Self
The "me generation" concentrates
so sharply on personal desires that
inslead of ach ieving the intimate
relationships they yearn for, they
grow further apart from otbers. [n
focusing on their own needs, tbey
discover that their inner journey
brings loneliness and depression.
They want to expand their lives,
but the strategy they use constricts
them-drawing them inward
toward the ever-narrowing, closed
off
"ME."
Too many are preoccupied with
their inner psychological needs.
T hey think of self as a vast assem–
blage of "needs"- no matter how
infantile or selfish.
(Cont inued on page 43)
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