Kids these days

I feel I must warn you, this post is going to be very much a rant.

One thing that has always bothered me is children who try to be older than they are. You know who I'm talking about. The young kids with iPods, cell phones, wearing make up, in relationships and acting like they own the world. What happened to kids playing hide & seek, building forts and being outside with friends all day? Tim McGraw sums it up in four lines in his song Back When;

We got too complicated

It's all way over-rated

I like the old and out-dated

Way of life

Nobody enjoys the simple things in life anymore. Everything is about the newest technology, the biggest thing money can buy and materialistic gain. Life has become a race to own the most, hardly anyone takes the time to do what they want to do. People say they wish they could do something, they wish they could take that trip they have been talking about. Why wish? Get up and take that trip. Stop worrying so much and enjoy life a little more.

If only we could go back to the days of penpals, family trips and board games. Instead we are stuck in a world of emails, texting and instant messages. A world where family means less and less, where there is either too much hate. Movies, TV and computers have replaced having fun with friends. Sitting around in a restaurant chatting for hours, hiking trips and camping trips with friends are not what they used to be.

Society has become so technology reliant, and I know I am not an exception. I use my computer, cell phone and iPod daily. I wonder what would happen if we lost the technology we have now. What would people do if the internet stopped working? How about if cell phone service was not to be found? Would we even be able to survive without the telephone? Would losing any of these technologies send us into an apocalypse?

I can't help but wish I could leave it all behind. Do as Christopher McCandless did. Give away all my money and hitch hike across the country. I should take my own advice, stop wishing and just do it. Maybe when i'm done school, i'll take a year to go where ever my heart desires. Any takers?

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

Chris McCandles