Could it be that people have always thought that the “youth of today” are different than each of us was as a child?
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
- Socrates (470 – 399 BC)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
John, it goes to show everyone that nothing has changed re: children. In fact, it’s a kind of a delight to know that sort of behaviour has been a constant throughout human history.
True. It’s also interesting to note that apparantly our perceptions change in a predictable manner as we get older. Too bad Socrates didn’t have the benefit of reading the same comment 2,000 years earlier or perhaps he’d have told us all exactly what that means. ;-)
Take care,
John
In terms of the development of civilisation, Greece was the point at which east became west. What Socrates was no doubt referring to was the apparent change in behaviour as his culture became more liberal. The predominant movement of ‘aculturation’ was from the east ( where children are to this day, more respectfull, and respectable, albeit just as playful, and dare I say it, generally more mature and happier in themselves) to the west.
The decline in self-awareness, that is, the ability to determine one’s relationship to everything and thus how to behave in a manner most conducive to peace and harmony, if that be one’s choice in life, was what caused the elect to judge Socrates wrongly for his beliefs.