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Then and now.

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Sakura,in several of my posts I have openly stated that I know I am generalising and I have also stated that I know we have many good kids out there. I know we have many good people because I have a relative in a hospice that is manned by volenteers. I dont know where you are but I doubt you are in the same Birmingham as me, and remember my first post was about Birmingham. The facts are as follows, drug and alcohol addiction is rising at a faster rate than ever before some abusers aged as young as ten. Gun Crime out of control. Knife crime out of control. Firemen being stoned by feral youths, whilst risking their lives trying to save others. Paramedics, A&E staff and teachers wearing stab proof vests. Schoolgirls giving birth. V.D. at an all time high. Anti Biotic resistant T.B. becoming more widespread. If you drive a new car you risk being stoned by feral gangs in some areas. There are far too many incidents these days to list them all. All of them were either not heard of, or were extremely rare years ago. I am not trying to compare BIRMINGHAM with anywhere else in the world, merely life now compared to life as my two brothers describe it, and as I remember it. Years ago most people were happy work long hours for small reward. Nowadays many people are not happy with short hours and high rewards. The government recently carried out quite a large enquiery type of thing to find out what had happened to our communities and and social attitudes. We have rampant corruption starting right at the top with MPs. expenses and the like. We have people who should not be in the country, working for Birmingham City Council embezzling millions of pounds. Getting a policeman is very hit and miss even if you phone 999. After all that, and there is lots more, I have a good wife, a new car, P.C. nice home plenty of friends, I am healthy enough to enjoy what I have and I do a bit of charity work as well as support some charities, but generally speaking, people in BIRMINGHAM were happier then than now. Thousands of people every weekend mistake binge drinking and drug taking as happiness, and will carry on doing so until it kills them or they realise their error. Taxis have had a surcharge put on the fare at night to entice the drivers out because so few of them want to work at night because of the trouble. Years ago I only did nights with my taxi and when I was a bus driver I used to swap my duty whenever possible for the night bus. Thats how much it has changed. So there is no confusion I will say again that I know there are many good kids out there and I do not class them all the same. The trouble is a lot of the good kids are scared of the others and turn bad to feel safe. This can only change if older people press for change to improve things for the ones who wish to grow up decent. Finally, do you know about The Gardian Angels? Well their numbers have dwindled in Birmingham and now they total one. He is the leader and he said he has to stop doing it. He can not get any new recruits because Birmingham is now considered more dangerous than New York. There was a picture of him and that statement in a local paper. It may have been The Birmingham Mail.
 
We saw that Jean, did you hear whether it was actually true?
That was the weirdest thing I think we have heard in a long time. Mo
 
I believe it was a school in the States Jean. . Now they are saying it was after the fact when they found themselves pregnant they supported each other. Who knows it is still too young. .
 
Mo Beryl I can't remember where. I think it was the states but it was definately true. Very often when the news is on I'm in the kitchen and just pick up snipits. Bye. Jean.
 
Thanks for posting that article Jenny, it was interesting. I think it was more extensive than I read before.Mo
 
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What a depressing thread this is.

I think I will just go out and smell the roses.In the rain of course,now that is depressing.
 
In the rain of course,now that is depressing.
Click to expand...

Well, yes, it's acid rain nowadays caused by all the fumes and pollution - wait a minute, what about when every factory, train, ship and house in the civilized world ran on COAL - there were fogs and smogs, known to be killers, that we don't get now, every building of interest in the cities was black with soot (and I can remember seeing black fields just outside Burnley, Lancashire, when I was young).
The trouble with modern science,excellent though it is, is that the more we learn about the world gives us more to worry about.
 
Many years ago, when I were a lad...
Oh, I let these four gents tell you.
[ame="https://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo"]YouTube - Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen[/ame]
 
Nas, forgive me please, I don't mean to go on but I cant seem to make my point clear. You mention walking ten miles to shool. I bet you like me and my friends were happy walking and playing on the way to and from school. How many times did you play truant or how many of your freinds just dropped out of school. I can tell you: Very few in any at all. Today in Birmingham we have several thousand, several thousand school days missed each year due to kids just not wanting to go. This figure does not include sickness. I see schoolgirl pregnancies mentioned. I fail to see/understand how state funded illegitamacy in schoolgirls can not be seen as causing unhappiness. I was in a trendy coffee bar in Harbourne, Birmingham a few weeks ago and I could not help overhearing the conversation between a group of young mothers. They were all wearing designer trackies and the kids were wearing designer clothes and the puschairs were top of the range things that should require an HGV license to push along. Every one of them had an expensive photo phone. The conversation was all about how to get the children diagnosed with HDDH to get extra benefits, then it moved on to depression. How to get diagnosed so you can get more benefits and maybe get a social worker to go shopping to save you becoming stressed. I cant believe people are telling me this is happiness. Adults have to realise/understand what is going on. We have to change the system somehow. I am not grumpy, I am concerned that so many people are happy/satisfied with it all. Forgive me for going on but my concern is for my great grandschildren. And NAS, this reply is not aimed at anything you said it is for everyone.
 
Come on folks I don't think any of us would liked to have lived in the Victorian era and certainly not earlier than that. As my husband says. there is no doubt as a woman I would have been put in the stocks and had rotten tomatoes thrown at me for being too politically out spoken. .

However, anyone with half an eye can see there is much need for improvement in today's society

Let's be realisitic... It was not that long ago familial influence was the dominant factor when it came to shaping our children's character, for many children that role has been taken over by various antagonistic elements of general society, not to mention the overwhelming reality of war, disease, and poverty in the world, and their influence on not just children but adults as well.

There are some parents who have become afraid of their children. Young people who do bad things , try to bring those who don’t into the fray with them, and the ones who don’t do bad things learn indifference to life and property, and the rights of others. They don't abide by the Golden Rule, only by the knife and the gun.

Authority too, is indifferent to the plight of our children, even those that work for authority have children too, but they think that it only happens to other parents' children. Little do they know?

It is my view that people are partially products of the examples their parents set (consciously or unconsciously) and the society into which they have been born. Human beings are all born with free will in to act. If a child lives in a free society, the child will grow up believing in freedom, and hopefully will respect adults who are respectable.

All is not lost, because the process of evolution continues, and in my opinion, we have something to learn from the children of today -- if only more of us would take the time to heal ourselves.

Children are everyone's responsibility, to teach them and to keep them safe is what should be priority as well as to correct them when we see them slipping into the wrong path, which of course is not easy at all!
 
Nas, that makes sense. Now, if you think 2-1 to me is unfair then I will be more than happy to agree to a draw and drop the subject. Thanks for talking to me.
 
Beryl.M, that is basically what I was trying to say. Thank you for solving it.
 
You all seem to have been very 'Adult' :) about this debate and have in my view between you worked it to an amicable and reasonable conclusion.
This is how the forum should work when debating such sensative topics, with members recognising and respecting each others opinions.

Hope you all agree if I now close this thread.

Pom
 
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