What Happened?

For me as a child, the year 2020 was just as far away as the stars themselves. No computers, no internet, just the good ole days...right? We had cartoons that we all watched religiously on Saturday mornings like The Flinstones that poked fun at the simplistic idiocy of what a functioning society of "cave folk" may have been like, straight from the mind and beautiful imagination of Hannah Barbara. Not long after The Flinstones, Fred and Wilma would air among the same Saturday morning line up as George and Jane Jetson, each character having a futuristic counterpart..George and Fred. Wilma and Jane. Judy and Pebbles and how could we forget mans best friend in the past, present and future, Astro and Dino. Maybe Elroy was the counter of Bam Bam. I'm not sure but you get the gist.

Even in the classic line up of Bugs Bunny rivals there was an alien. Everyone knows Marvin the Martian right? Disintegrating you with his ultrasonic ray gun? Come to think of it Fred Flinstone was visited from time to time by his own menacing, future dweller, Kazoo. Mel Blanc, Warner Bros., Hannah Barbara and countless others wowed and captivated the imaginations of kids everywhere every Saturday morning, stimulating minds in ways that kids born in this century will just never fully experience. Just the anticipation of a Saturday morning cartoon session was great! Having to wait for something. My goodness. That isn't even a concept anymore.

That all being said, somewhere along or around the same time Saturday Morning Cartoons disappeared, and Bozo the Clown played his last game of Bozo Buckets before school one day, society began to take a dangerous turn. A dangerous turn in which our childrens minds went from being stimulated to desensitized. We went from the endless possibilities of the imagination of Captain Kangaroo, and the vast kindness and moral compass taught by Fred Rogers, to instead being introduced to the mindless nonsense of Beavis and Butthead, two stoners who cant speak a full sentence without saying "Boobies" and giggling mindlessly for 20 minutes. Or we have Ren and Stimpy (Im guilty...I loved them), a show where a fat red cat and an emaciated chihuahua chase a green puff of flatulence then fall into a deep depression when they cant find it. I could go on and on...South Park, Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force...the list goes on. I am a product of this era. Born in 1977 I lived through and witnessed this change and by no means am I sitting on a high horse.

Then it got worse. God/The Bible was taken out of the equation completely. Now I'm not much for "religion", organized or otherwise. I believe in freedom of religion as well. But, at least when the Bible was being taught there was a morality about it. I mean rather than remove it completely leaving zero morality being taught outside homes where parents actually have time to sit and discuss morals with their kids, perhaps a discussion about replacing it with a class or some kind of guidelines that lay forth a moral compass. Then it was deemed illegal for us to punish our children by means of 'spanking' or, well good ole fashioned ass whooping when warranted. Something that has worked for centuries. I'm not talking abuse. A swat on the butt firm enough to get your point across. Or a smack on the hand. Doctors and psychologists suddenly decided that this lack of stimulation, morality and discipline was now a disease. ADHD. Now I'm not saying it doesnt exist. But you never Ever heard about it when I was growing up or even after I had my first child. Could ADHD be the long term effect of lack of discipline, morality and parental engagement? Society has made it so both parents have to work to support a family anymore so who is left to raise our kids? Teach them how to acquire an attention span? Show them right from wrong? Instead we medicated our kids because they were no longer being mentally, physically, emotionally or Spiritually in realistic ways and we had no idea, or were too busy trying to work two jobs and keep food on the table to realize it let alone deal with it.

The state of the world as it is now in 2020...there are no good people for our children to look up to. Our government fights like kindergarteners, republicans and democrats have become glorified bullies alike. We are forced to vote for the worse of two evils and the sad but honest truth is ... We are still going to end up with Evil. What happened?