199 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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April 20, 1994
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LEGACY.ASC
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This interesting file is from the Double Helix BBS. It has much to
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say as to how young people view our modern society and what they
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perceive as a probable end result.
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Kind of gets one to thinking about what can we do to try to inspire
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the younger folks. How many times have you seen a Winnebago or
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camper with a bumper sticker saying, "We are spending our kids
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inheritance." Although I know many people who were left little or
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nothing, they chose not to depend on any kind of windfall from their
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parents estate and so made it on their own abilities. These are the
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ones I admire most..........................................Sysop
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5/93 English
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Final Essay
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"The Terrible Twenties"
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Smith-Rowsey
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Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have been 20, my age, in
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the 60's. Back when you could grow up, count on a career and maybe
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think about buying a house. When one person could expect to be the
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wage earner for a household.
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In the space of one generation those dreams have died. The cost of
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living has skyrocketed, unemployment has gone up, going to college
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doesn't guarentee you can get a good job. And no one seems to care.
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Maybe it's because the only people my age that you older people have
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heard from are those who * do * make a lot of money: investment
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bankers, athletes, musicians, actors. But more and more of us
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twentysomethings are underachievers who loaf around the house until
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well past our college years.
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This is an open letter to the baby boomers from the * next *
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generation. I think it's time we did a little hitting back. Aside
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from the wealthy, none of you ever told your children, "Someday this
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will all be yours," and you're the first middle-class to fail that
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way. Did you think we wouldn't care? Thanks a lot. But the real
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danger lies in the way we've been taught to deal with failure: gloss
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over and pretend the problem doesn't exist.
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It's evidence you never taught us to be smart -- you only taught us
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to be young.
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Page 1
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We are the stupidest generation in American history, we 20-year-
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olds. You already know that. We really do get lower SAT scores than
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our parents. Our knowledge of geography is pathetic, as is our
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ability to deal with foreign languages and even basic math.
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We don't read books like you did. We care only about image. We love
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fads. Talk to any college professors, and they'll tell you they
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don't get intelligent responses like they used to, when you were in
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school. We're perfectly mush-headed.
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You did this to us. You praised your youth so much, you made sure
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ours would be carefree. It's not that you didn't love us; you loved
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us so much, you pushed us to follow your idea of what you were -- or
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would like to have been -- instead of teaching us to be responsible.
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After legitimizing youthful rebellion you never let us have our own
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innocence -- perhaps because Vietnam and Watergate shattered yours.
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That's why we're already mature enough to understand and worry about
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racism, the environment, abortion, the homeless, nuclear policy.
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But we were also fed on the video culture you created to idealize
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your own irresponsible days of youth. Your slim-and-trim MTV bimbos,
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fleshy beer commercials, and racy TV shows presented adolescence as
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a time only for fun and sex. Why should we be expected to work at
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learning anything?
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Not that we're not smart -- in some ways. We're street smart, David
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Letterman clever, whizzes at Nintendo. We can name more beers than
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presidents. Pop culture is, to us, more attractive than education.
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I really don't think we can do this much longer. Not a single
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industrialized country has survived since 1945 without a major re-
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evaluation of its identity except ours. That's what you thought you
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were doing in the 60's, but soon gave way to chasing the dreams of
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the Donald Trump-Michael Milken get-rich-quick ethos --and all you
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had left for us was a bankrupt economy.
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The latchkey lifestyle you gave us in the name of your own "freedom"
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has made us a generation with missing parents and broken homes. And
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what about the gays and Blacks and Hispanics and Asians and women
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who you pretend to care so much about, and then forgot?
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It's not that I'm angry at you for selling out to the system. It's
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that there won't be a system for >ME< to sell out to if I want to.
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The money isn't there anymore because * YOU * spent it all.
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To be honest, I can't blame you for all that's happened. The pre-
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eminence of new technologies and the turn toward cutthroat
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capitalism over the past two decades would have happened with or
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without the pecualarities of your generation.
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If I had been born in the 50's, I too would have been angry at
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racism and the war in Vietnam. But that's not the same thing as
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allowing the system to unravel out of my own greed.
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Don't say you didn't start the fire of selfishness and self-
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indulgence, building it up until every need or desire was
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immediately appeased. Cable TV, BMW's, cellular phones, the whole
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mall culture has reduced us all to 12-year-olds who want everything
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** > NOW! <** .
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Page 2
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I'm not in love with everything your parents did, but at least they
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gave you a chance. As Billy Joel said "Every child had a pretty good
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shot to get at least as far as their old man got." For most of us,
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all we've been left with are the erotic fantasies, aggressive
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tendencies, and evanescent funds of youth. Pretty soon we won't have
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youth * OR * money, and that's when we may get a little angry.
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Or maybe we won't. Perhaps you really have created a nation of mush-
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heads who will always prefer style over substance. If that's so, the
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culture can survive, as it seems to be doing with the bright smile
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of optimism breaking through the clouds of decaying American
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institutions. And then you really will be the last modern smart
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generation because our kids will be even dumber, poorer and more
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violent than us.
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You guys will be like the old mule at the end of Orwell's "Animal
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Farm," thinking about how great things used to be when you were
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kids. You will differ from your own parents in that you will have
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missed your chance to change the world and robbed us of the skills
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and money to do it ourselves.
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If there's any part of you left that still loves us enough to help
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us, we could really use it. And it's not just your last chance. It's
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our only one.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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Page 3
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