I've just been reading the NY Times and it occurred to me that this newspaper is actually more of a research paper on why America is in the state of psychosis that it's in.

Between the article on college endowments at huge universities like Yale and Harvard and one on "how to stay one step ahead of aging", I can't help but think that a large percentage of the current wage earning American public is completely selfish and self-centered. It isn't that I haven't noticed this irregularity before; but it is so much a part of the "scene" now, that people don't even realize how preposterous they sound.

One guy said that through endowments, they want to make sure the next generation has the same opportunities and advantages that they have. Um, excuse me, but 32% of us out here can't even maintain the same level of wealth and comfort our parents had! If you are talking about opportunities and advantages for those people earning over $180,000 per year...exactly how many people are we talking about? If you don't think the education of ALL our children is important...take a look at crime, drug use and mental illness figures. Hello NY TIMES..there is a world outside of your city! Mine exists a short four hours away...and the taxes people are paying here in my little burg certainly go to helping your big fat apple stay afloat. I won't even address Harvard and Yale...they ain't listenin.

And I'd also like to give a shout out to the "Ivy Leaguers"...what are you gonna do when the raging masses come knockin on your front door? Hungry, homeless people do unreasonable things..as shown during the French revolution, just a short 200 years ago. I'm sure you've studied this historical event in your hallowed halls...were you learning anything?

I really shouldn't place the blame on those who have earned their degrees from ivy league schools. My own sister and son graduated from Cornell University. However, Cornell has a huge agricultural school which seems to balance out some of the unfortunate greed of of our other esteemed institutions for knowledge. (Not that Cornell isn't greedy, mind you.) I think it is an interesting side note though, that if one graduates from the state funded ag school with a 4.0, you don't get to graduate summa cum laude...that's only if you graduate from the "other side of the tracks". But there is no class distinktion in our society.

The other thing I want to comment on, again, is aging. These articles that insist you can "stay one step ahead" are absolute bull hockey. That little determination lies in your genes, and while you definitely can take excellent care of your body, there is NO pill or exercise machine or even surgery, that is going to keep us young. We boomers are aging..at least on the outside. Yes, many of us are still grappling with teenage issues on the inside, but the body does not wait. No one knows better than I how frustrating, depressing and absolutely horrifying it is not to be able to rock and roll all night! At least on a dance floor or some other real fun place..one could describe what passes for my sleep as rocking and rolling. But anyway...we just have to face the facts. Knees don't last forever..and while they are making progress in the replaceable parts category; it ain't fast enough, cheap enough or painless enough for most of us. All I gotta say is, someone better invent a hover chair pretty quick..cause I ain't goin four wheelin.

But back to my original issue of selfish and self centered Americans. We are. Yes, we are also generous and compassionate..but we have a tendency to just throw money at things and hope they go away. This is not how it works, not to mention our money isn't worth so much these days. What we need to do as elders, is look ahead and see what we can do to help this generation that's taking the wheel now. These kids are having a rough freaking time! I know, cause I talk to lots of them. Especially in the 18-25 age group, I find so many of them are absolutely terrified and unprepared for what's in front of them. Well, honey, if they be unprepared...that's the fault of the generation raising them.

That too, however is a very sticky wicket. I remember struggling with my own inner demons while trying to raise my kids at the same time. Trying to figure out how to be a good parent who was not MY parents predominated my child raising years. In this quest to undo the wrongs of the father, I found so many things within myself I had to fix first! Well, you just don't even know these things, until you have kids of your own...so how do you prepare for that? I'm not saying we did anything wrong..we did the best job we could with where our heads were at..but many of us apparently had our heads up our aspercreme and still do.

What I think about all this is, that these kids need our help. They need to be listened to and they need some education! So many of them don't even know how to fill out job applications and balance their check books! There are places to volunteer your time and expertise; but there are plenty of young folks all around you that if you take the time, will probably end up spending time at your table drinking coffee with you and asking you questions like, "how the hell do you do this????" And not only that...you will find that they are not the empty headed, pop culture infested robot brains one might assume our culture is turning out, if you listen to the media at all. Most of them are breaking their asses trying to make their way. I know kids who are working two and three jobs...going to school...helping out their parents or siblings..there are damn good kids out there. Support them! Stand up for them and be there for them. That's all we can do now.

And this concludes Pye's tirade for the day. Thank you very much.