We Are We Are, the Youth of the Nation...

What happened to the innocence of youth?

I was eating at a local taco joint the other day, observing people from a distance, and eating some fantastic fish tacos when a couple of tweens (preteens, for those not hip to the new vocabulary, middle school students for the politically correct) walked in and began to peruse the menu for possible lunch items. As I continued to eat my chips and sip my water, my eyes strayed away from said couple in search of something better, or at least more stimulating. I had finally focused on a basketball game that was being televised when I overheard the following conversation:

Boy 1: “So what are you going to order? I’m liking the steak burrito myself.”

Girl 1: “Oh you so can’t get that. I was going to get that!”

Boy 1: “So? We could both get the same thing. What’s wrong with that?”

Girl 1: “I really want it! I swear if you order that, I’m gonna take you outside and just molest you!”

Laughter

I was very much alarmed by this exchange of words.

I’m not sure if they ordered the same thing, nor do I know if the boy had become victim to the threatened molestation. I was more concerned with the “molestation” aspect of their conversation; have I gotten so old that I missed the transformation of the word molest? Has it become a “cool” word to use, like the word “gay” and “retarded?” I certainly hope not.

As I continued to eat my food, my mind drifted to other topics, clothes, lyrics to “21 Questions” (possibly one of the worst songs ever written), taking a shower, etc. It wasn’t until I got home when I remembered the conversation overheard at lunch and decided to ask my youngest brother about the current middle school vernacular. I was shocked and amazed to discover that molest is not a term of coolness or endearment. It is, and will always be, a word used to describe sexual predators and other such questionable persons.

When did these children learn what this word means? Further, why do they think that it’s funny to use such a word in a manner both sexual and illegal? I often joke with my friends that they aren’t making kids like they used to make. Unfortunately, this may become truer that I want to believe.

Growing up in a somewhat conservative family, words and phrases that questioned ones upbringing were strictly forbidden; damn, shit, fuck, balls, shut up, gay, retard, hump, tits – all bad words to my mother. When I went to middle school, I realized the power that was in such words and began to use them, nearly in every sentence, and subsequently got into a lot of trouble. In high school, I still had a sailor’s mouth, but I learned how to keep in under control. As an adult, no one can censor me, though I tend to not swear as much as I have in the past. This being the case, I feel that I am not alone in this “politically correct” choice of vocabulary as a youth. But even when I had the word “fuck” wrapped around my finger, I never dared to joke about sex or molestation.

What happened?

I’m not out to blame the parents or the media of changing the once innocent youth of yesterday to the sexually active, swearing youth of today. That would be too cliché. I don’t know who to blame. I just know that children are changing, and not for the better. I recently read an article in the paper about a nine year old girl who was pregnant with her boyfriend’s (who is twelve years old) baby. This is out of control. The world is already overpopulated and the last thing we need is a bunch of parents who aren’t old enough to sit in the front seat of the car.

So what can we do? I suggest moving them. All of them.

I stumbled upon plans on the internet the other day for a home made raft, very old school looking thing straight out of Tom Sawyer. I think that if we all pull together and pitch in a couple dollars, we could build one large enough for all the children out there who claim to be, “mature for their age.” We then send this raft out to sea. We would provide them with food and perhaps some sort of entertainment, perhaps Miley or the Jonas folk. It would be a big ol’ party and the juice would be flowing. The sexual excited would be able to bond with other like minded folk, and the rest of the world would be able to go about their day without worrying about 6^th graders talking about molesting each other at the local taco restaurant.

I’m not saying it’s the solution; I still think that the parent of the world need to grab a hold of their children before the shit hits the fan. I’m merely suggesting a possibility.

-t.