The society we became from the society we were.

I went to Primary School in the seventies and we did not have computers, PS3, Xbox, internet and the world of gadgets. It was not a hardship because we had to make do with other forms of entertainment such as playing football, riding our bikes, playing games or even doing stuff with our parents. We didn't suffer and we were all as skinny as a monkey wrench. Being obsese back in the day was such an unusual event in backstreet Liverpool that if you were obese the kids thought you were posh because you could afford more food than your neighbours.
Fast forward 30 years and the situation is quite different. Children plonked on computers, texting to friends with terms such as CYA, BRB, LOL and B4. Not a problem you think? Well when they bring this language to their literacy learning it becomes a big problem.
Children have gone from the 70's version of creating their own entertainment to the 21st Century version of demanding their entertainment and they want it in their adolescent armchairs and with the minimum of fuss. KFC and Macdonalds have moved from being a treat, to the staple diet of the masses, hence we now see obesity as a highly normal reaction to the fast food society addiction created not by the multi nationals but by a brand of parenting that sees putting a fast food drip into the arms of their children as highly preferable to creating meals that give their children the nutrients they need for a staple diet.
It is not children that have changed,(they tend to be the same whatever the generation) it is that society has become lazier, the quick fix always wins over sustainable effort to improve the society we live in. Parenting whilst good in many cases is pretty average in some other cases. Being a parent is tough and there are no easy solutions but it is the only complex job that anyone can get without even an interview. The 70's were not better, children in the 70's were not better, just better prepared than the poor computer hogging versions of the 21st century who will one day find out that life is not a computer game and the next level is only attained through ambition, hard work and a dose of reality.


Father John Bell (next sermon next week)