- "You can be anything you want to be"
- "It's your choice""
- "You are special"
- "Every kid ought to go to college"
- "You can have it all now"
- "You're a winner just because you participated"
- "You can get whatever you want"
Friday, February 10, 2012
Lies to Your Generation (Please respond by Thursday, February 17 at 8:00 AM)
For this week's blog, I want to try a rather different approach. I recently read a passage by author Tim Elmore titled "Seven Lies That Can Disable A Generation" Out of the seven I have listed below, I want you to choose one that you believe is the most detrimental to your generation and explain why.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
I think the most harmful to our generation would be the saying, "You can have it all now." When this is said, it could make people believe that they won't have to try hard to succeed. We aren't going to achieve everything we want to right away. Realistically, we may never achieve everything we want to. So saying we could have it all now is a discouraging falsehood that may get peoples hopes up only to be let down. In life you have to work to get what you want. Nothing is just handed to people anymore. You can't take the free ride in your life if you want to get anywhere. In today's society, to "have it all" is rare. This goes along with the "American dream." It's harder now to make a lot of money than it used to be based on the economy and lack of jobs, divorce rates are higher so it's harder to maintain a happy relationship, and education is costing more and more every year so it's hard to even afford it anymore. Everything has a price. To say you can have it all now would mean you wouldn't have to put forth much effort and in this day in age, that is unlikely. To be successful and achieve all the goals you want to in life, you have to work, strive, sacrifice, and never give up. And after all you go through, one day in the future, you may have it all. This statement is most harmful to our generation because 1. it makes people think they don't have to try and 2. Even with all the effort one will put in, the chances of 'having it all' remain uncertain. We can't foresee our future, but we can work to have a great one.
Out of the seven, I believe that “You can get whatever you want” is the one that is most detrimental to my generation. I believe this for many different reasons. We cannot truly have whatever we want or this world would be crazier than it already is. If you look up how to get whatever you want it tells you to manipulate others, tell people what they want to hear, and think about yourself and no one else. Doesn’t that just sound like a great person? No, and guess what? They will never truly get everything they want. Maybe if we do that we will be successful and have a lot of money and nice things, but I guarantee we won’t have many friends or loved ones to share it with. That is what is wrong with our society today. All we do is want and want but we never give back or ask others if we can help them. We could go on and on about how we want something new and not realize that there are other people around us that actually need something more important. In life we all want things. I want to go to an Ivy League college, not have friends that stab me in the back, I want others to think that I am a good person, and I want to never have to worry or be stressed. Will all of this happen? No and I know that. See this statement plays off of religion and government. We can want whatever and think that it is the best thing for us, but God might not agree. He has a plan for us all and he brings certain people, tragedies, and triumphs in our life for a reason. We might not understand why and we even might not want to know. So what we want could end up never coming true or in some cases we might end up waiting a long time. The statement you can get whatever you want also plays off of government in ways. What if the leader of our nation just got whatever he/she wanted? That could be a very scary thought. Also most people would say that want to be rich. Well if everyone is wealthy or wants to be the President, where does that leave or nation? If we could all have whatever we wanted then we would not have poor people struggling to survive, we would not have natural disasters, and our government would not have to deal with threats like 9/11 on our nation. People say you can get whatever you want with determination and hard work. Well in some cases that is true. You can study and work your way to the top but will we ever be satisfied? I think this statement just sets people up for disaster and gives them false hope. It is more realistic to have a set goal in mind and try to achieve that over time. We are a nation that is selfish and greedy and we want everything, but the truth is we can’t have it. Also this statement causes many different problems because no two people want the same things. It can lead to arguments, and also like I said it gives people hope. It takes away from our understanding of what is truly important in life and working hard to get different things we want. If we all had what we wanted, no one would ever step back and be grateful for the blessings we have in our life and we would rely on anyone for help. The world would be a cold, lonely place and would anyone really even be happy?
"You can get whatever you want" may seem like a positive statement to some, but for me I feel like it sounds selfish or greedy. In reality, we can not get whatever we want because if we did, I think our society would be much happier. Clearly, we can not get whatever we want because right now, people want money and we can not just get it or print it, it is not that easy. As our generation endures the hardships of our economy, we are realizing that we have to work for what we want and that it will not be handed to us. For some, they may get what they want, when they want it because of who their family may be, but the majority of the country must work hard for themselves and maybe a family as well. Our generation should not be told that we can get whatever we want because in the end they will just be let down. We need to be taught working skills and managing our money, so when we get older we will have an easier time adjusting to the workplace when it comes our time to be adults and provide for ourselves. Obama seems to just give out charity when many people can be doing something to help themselves out, but instead, they cry for help. It is not fair that many of our families are paying for people's healthcare when we need to be providing for ourselves first. Our parents are working hard for us, and should not have to be paying for others, it just is not fair. The people we pay for are probably sitting on the couch, eating Cheetos, while we pay for their expenses. They could definitely make an effort to find some way of finding a job or ways to receive money in order to pay for their OWN expenses in healthcare.
I believe the most detrimental phrase told to our generation is "You can be anything you want to be". I think it would be better to say "You can TRY to be anything you want to be, but there are no guarantees in life". With almost every saying or phrase, there are some obvious ways to disprove it and some deeper, more intelligent ways to contradict it. One of the most obvious ways (which is probably a smart-alec response) would be to say that if i wanted to grow wings and be a bird, I would not be able to do that. But, due to the fact that this is an AP response to a blog, I should probably go a little deeper. When parents tell there children they can be anything they want to be, it gives them hope. When they realize they can't be what they want, their hope is crushed. These hopes can be crushed by genetic reasons, physical reasons, and even nuerological reasons (bear with me because I am sick and I am taking this from a medical point of view first). For a good example, I'll use myself. I had scoliosis surgery and i have rods connected to my spine, which does not allow me to slouch or even bend my upper back. Because of this, if my dream was to be a contortionist, I obviously would not be able to do that. Genetically, I cannot be a perfect with the best odds of not having heart problems considering I have a heart disease history in my family. If a child wanted to be a star actor, sure she could try, but it doesn't mean she'd be the next Angelina Jolie. America gives false beliefs that if you come to this country the opportunities are endless. However, I do not believe this is true based on people's personal statistics. If you are dirt poor and you want to be filthy rich, yeah you could try again but you would have to work so hard and so long and that is just an attempt. There are no guarantees in life so I definitely don't think you can be anything you want to be, because right now I do not want to be sick but reality is I feel like I'm about to die.
I remember when I was a little kid and you were taught that your dreams were endless. Every little kid has some crazy idea of what they want to be when they grow up; ranging from singers to astronauts and of course, the president. Of course, for me, I was going to be on American Idol singing with the Backstreet Boys. However, as I grew up, that dream vanished. It’s a parent’s job to tell their kid that they can be anything they want to be if that put all their heart in it, but honestly that’s not true anymore. Many kids have high dreams for themselves, and especially with our economy today it is very hard to reach those dreams. Kids want to grow up to be the most successful in life; however, to be that successful you usually have to take many risks. The singers, actors, athletes, and political activists today didn’t get their job easily. Most of them had to risk so much in order to get to where they are today. It is like the luck of the draw. So many people risk all they have in order to have one of these dreams, however most of the time it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it. In life you hear about the amazing stories of people who have fulfilled their dreams, however you never hear about all the people who have failed. I am not saying that you shouldn’t strive for your dream, however I think you should be realistic in case things don’t work out the way you wanted them to. When people tell our generation that they can be anything they want to be, I feel like they are getting our hopes up to far and are setting us up for failure. I mean who wouldn’t want to be a thriving millionaire with a nice house and car, but is that going to be the case for everyone: no. Sadly, in today’s society, it is more important to be realistic then to follow your dream. I believe this phrase causes the most harm to our generation because too many times kids strive for their dreams and end up failing and ending up with nothing. Today, our generation needs to be more realistic so we don’t end up struggling for the rest of our lives.
I believe the statement, "It's your choice" is the most detrimental to my generation. Sure everybody technically has a choice, but do we really? I would say that most people (teens especially) feel like they don't have an actual choice. There's always factors that effect our choices and situations that make us feel as if we don't have a choice. For example, every kid is raised to get an education and better themselves. I'm not saying that it's a bad choice to do so, but honestly, most parents would have a heart attack if their child decided one day to quit school simply because it's their choice. It would be a bad decision, but hopefully you get what I mean. If a teen aspires to be an artist or do something different, then his/her choice is to follow his/her dream. However, realistically, those careers don't make enough money to support a family in the future unless your that one in a million who becomes famous for doing something you actually enjoy doing. Therefore, most students are "guided" into making a choice that probably wasn't the one they were leaning towards in the first place simply because it's not considered a stable career choice in the future. In today's society, most people tend to judge you based on what your job is. For example, if I told you I was an artist or musician, most would say, "Oh that's cool!" but not be super impressed unless you were famous. If I were to say, "Yeah I'm in med school studying to become a doctor," people are more impressed with that and tend to think of you more highly. In conclusion, most teens,not all, choose careers that are considered to be socially acceptable instead of what they really want. I personally would love to become an artist or do something that involves design, but realistically I know that that choice is probably not smart because in today's society, it's hard to make a living being an artist. Most artists don't become famous until their dead. Irrelevant, but you get my point.
I think that the statement most detrimental to our generation is "you're a winner just because you participated." While participation is great, kids shouldn't get rewarded just for doing something. They should only get awarded if they win at the activity, or go above and beyond. Our generation and those younger than us are growing up listening to parents, teachers, and coaches telling them this. While it seems like a great way to keep everyone happy and avoid the waterworks, it ends up hurting us as we get older. Yes, participating and trying is great, but we shouldn't get awarded for doing things we should be expected to do. While winning is not the most important thing, saying everyone is a winner lowers the value of that achievement. Kids should strive to win because of the proud feeling they will get afterwards. Instilling the belief that everyone is a winner as a child will mess up the rest of their life. At their future jobs, their bosses most likely won't give them a trophy for showing up. In order to get a promotion or a pay raise, people need to essentially 'win' at their job, by doing the best job or being the best worker. Telling kids that they are all winners is just setting them up for failure and disappointment later in life. Kids should not be getting trophies and ribbons for just showing up to a game or event and playing.
I think "It's your choice" or "you can get whatever you want" are the most detrimental because these imply that it is all about you. Obviously there are circumstances that it is your own choice and you have the right to do make your own decisions, but there are situations where that doesn't apply and I think repeatedly telling a person this will make it hard for them to tell the difference. Our generation is becoming more and more selfish and neglecting to recognize the needs of other people. "You can get whatever you want I think is slightly more detrimental to our generation because even though it implies that if you work hard, you can achieve anything, but it makes people believe that they just deserve everything and don't have to work for it. Especially in this economy it is a lot harder for people to whatever they want, and making people think that may cause some people to do whatever it takes to get what they want. Also, in life it is necessary to work with other people and if people think they get everything they want then it doesn't give the other people they work with a chance to give their opinion. If every politician thought this way, then no one would be willing to compromise and nothing will ever get done. Even within the same party because each politician has a slightly different point of view. By saying, "you can get whatever you want" we are basically telling people to be selfish, and if everyone is selfish than it will be impossible for anyone to gain anything.
I believe that the most harmful advice is "You can have it all,now." NO, YOU CANNOT. There will never be a time in your life where you will be able to "have it all". There will always be greedier people wanting more money, more houses, more cars etc. There is no place in this world for greed and as it has been demonstrated in our country, the only thing that comes out out of greed is unhappiness. If people are always looking to what more that they could have than what they are grateful for at the moment, they will never be happy with what they have. Also compromise is what gets us through life (too bad Congress doesn't agree). If your sibling want pancakes and you want waffles, you have to compromise. If your friend wants to go ice skating and you want to watch a movie, you have to compromise. If your coworkers think that there should be a change in the company, and you don't agree, you have to compromise. Not being able to compromise is a dangerous habit to get into, and one that may be the ruin of our country. Unless Republicans and Democrats stop acting like greedy children and start COMPROMISING, the country is just going to get worse. Sometimes, you have to put aside your political agenda, put aside your desire for a pay raise, and implement cuts that are needed and pass legislation that is necessary. It makes me angry to hear Tea Party-ers and leftist Democrats announcing that they are unwilling to compromise on (insert political item here). I understand if it is a life or death issue like abortion or the death penalty (some issues I wouldn't compromise on) but it is ridiculous that they cannot compromise on tax cuts, or the budget, or which departments need/don't need to be downsized. These changes need to happen, and stalling is not going to get us anywhere. Congress need to set aside its political agenda and, for once, put the American people first and get something done.
Wow. It's incredibly hard to choose just one of these to be the most detrimental to society. Several "lies" listed can be completely misinterpreted to someone, producing a horrible outcome. For example, "It's your choice" can lead people to think that they can do whatever they want, no matter what the consequences are. There has to be some limits, or else society would be in total chaos. However, the most detrimental to society would probably have to be "you can have it all now." That is such a blatant lie; someone would have to be out of their mind to believe it. You will never be able to have everything you want, when you want it. It's impossible. You can sure work for it, but there is no guarantee that you will get it. In application to my generation, I'm sure many people want an uncountable amount of spending money, less homework, a boyfriend/girlfriend, and less rules to abide by. But that is not realistic at all.
When I read "you can have it all now," I immediately thought of credit cards. When credit cards were created, people got the "buy now, pay later" mentality, which resulted in an overwhelming amount of debt. People depended, and still do, on a little plastic card to pay for luxuries and such, not thinking about the actual process behind credit. They think that having a credit card is convenient when you want something right at that moment. However, in order to swipe your card, there has to be money in the account to fulfill that payment.
This idea is also harmful to the government's reputation. People expect so much of the government, wanting things now. They want soldiers home, world peace, less debt, and more benefits and when those things don't happen immediately, people become unsatisfied. However, those things just don't come on command. It takes planning and strategy, just like the process is for achieving any other goal in life. Nothing comes easy, and not everything is going to go your way. Patience is a virtue, and that's unfortunately extremely lacking in today's generation, partly due to the advances in technology that provide instant communication (i.e. texting, social networking, email, etc.)
While I do believe that almost all of these statements are lies, the one that will be most detrimental to our generation is "you can get whatever you want." This statement is completely inaccurate. Every single person in our generation cannot get every single thing that they want. Life simply doesn't work that way. People don't get to take whatever they what just because they want it. They must work for things. I believe this statement will cause people to try to take things for granted and to not work hard in life. Our generation will have a hard enough time dealing with this unbelievable amount of debt that we cannot afford anyone to be feeding us lies! This statement reminds me of a movie we watched in theology called John Q. The movie was an emotional story of a father who held a group of people hostage in a hospital in order to get his son on the heart transplant list even though he could not afford it. The man was not even found guilty for holding hostages and his son was put on the transplant list. This made it okay for someone to endanger innocent lives in order to get what a few individuals wanted. I find it alarming. This world is already cruel and selfish enough without everyone believing they can get all the things that they want. I believe that this lie that is told to our generation will not only be harmful to us, but also be harmful to all future generations as the selfishness and greediness of people increases.
I believe that “it’s your choice” is the most harmful lie being told to our generation because nothing is really ever your choice. Everyone is either forced to listen to authority figures or to make decisions for the benefit of other people. This is the way it should be as otherwise people would disobey the law and make selfish choices if there were no consequences. Many older people tell our generation that everything is our choice, but then they take over and make the decisions for us because they believe that we are not capable of making intelligent choices on our own. This causes a problem because when our generation grows old enough to make our own decisions then many people will make bad choices because they have no experience using their own judgment. If we are constantly told that every decision is our choice, people get the idea that making decisions for one’s own benefit is acceptable. Nothing is really our decision because we are bound by the rules of social cohesion to be perceived as a considerate person as well as official rules and laws. Also individuals must think of what is best for the people in their lives and any other commitments that they have. If people are taught that they can make selfish decisions, our society will become even more self-centered than it is now. This relates to government because when government officials chose to make selfish decisions without the people’s best interests in mind, scandal and corruption occur. Too many politicians today as well as throughout history were probably told “it’s your choice.”
I think that the lie, 'You're a winner just because you participated', is the most detrimental to our generation. I think that in competitions with younger kids, where emotions ride high and everyone is just eager to get a prize, this saying could be appropriate. These kids are just innocent and want to be recognized for what they have done. I agree with Kelly, to tell these little kids their winners just because you participated in order to avoid the waterworks. But as kids become older and they put more or less effort into their part of a competition those who have really done what they had to do and gone above that requirement should be recognized, with first, second, and third places. Although it is sad for the fourth through maybe tenth place there is also the possibility that some kids in the competition did not put in any effort or have shown any enthusiasm towards what they were doing. Those are the kids that create the reason why we should not say 'You're a winner just because you participated'. Our generation needs to become away that in order to succeed in life we need to push ourselves and be passionate in what we do. Without passion we cannot succeed. The truth is sometimes we are going to fail. That's just a fact of life. The best thing is we learn from those mistakes and we get back up to try again. Participation is not a bad thing! It shows we have tried. But being rewarded for participation will create the mindset that if they did not essentially win they still won, which is false.
I find that the phrase "You can have it all now" is the most detrimental to a child. It teaches a kid to be selfish and makes them think that they can have anything they want at any time. But is that true in any way? Nope. Everything in life takes patience and, very often, a lot of hard work and perseverance. People are not just handed things whenever they want them. If a kid wants a lollipop while sitting in a dentist's office you aren't going to give it to him, are you? No way! That would be showing the child that he is always in control and he is constantly able to receive anything that he wants.
Being selfish is a real turn off and never a good quality in a human being, and if a kid is raised being told this then it is detrimental to him throughout his entire life and career. He/she would grow up with the idea that they do not need to work for anything, it will just be handed to them, which WILL NOT happen.
I also would like to say that I have never heard this phrase used, and thank goodness for that. I do not even want to imagine the horrible and selfish people would grow out of someone who has heard this their entire life .
Post a Comment