Where are we going?

I want you to think. You've heard stories about your parents getting grounded or maybe even getting spankings. But go back a generation and they were giving spankings in schools - with paddles. And go back again I remember my grandparents having to cut their own branch from a willow tree to come back in and "git a likin'."

There were TV shows of adults hauling kids by their ears to and fro. Discipline was a part of every day life. It was expected and it made us wiser, stronger, and better for it.

Today, we have learned to be "patient." There is a better way to teach our children, letting them explore the world around them and discover what works and what doesn't work.

What I see is a decline from the Greatest Generation - those that lived through the Great Depression. Those that endured and fought in World War II to this new generation, they feel they are "entitled." OMG like, the new iPhone is coming out. I'm going to get my camping gear ready.

It is a changing world. So where does patience and acceptance come into play?

I fear that we have become soft. Where is the heart of America - the farm workers? Factory workers? Many have been moved overseas. Jobs that could be done cheaper somewhere else are being done somewhere else. Now those jobs seem below us. But they weren't below our grandparents. Those people I look up to with such esteem.

Patiently, I raise my kids and can only wonder how to instill in them the work ethic of my parents and grandparents. Hopefully, they see the opportunity before them is not something to be taken for granted.