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Feb. 28, 2005 There are people who walk around in America thinking that someone owes them. Now I don’t mean those people who constantly call you on the phone asking where the mortgage payment that was promised to pay at the end of the month, and haven’t gotten around to mailing. I mean the people who do not have as much money as those who put forth the effort to make it. The ones who complain that they are being treated unfairly because someone has something that they want, but do not have the resources to get it. Those who when told that they can make money by doing simple task such as mowing lawns, babysitting, taking out garbage, and numerous other jobs that require little or no training to accomplish. They fight back with terms such as “I’m not your slave”, “Why do I have to do that”, “Not for a million dollars”, “I’ve got plans already”, “I’m tired”, “Can’t someone else do it”, “Why do I have to do it”, and the ever popular “If you give me the money now, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Now you probably think that I’m talking about the grumbling of someone who’s a bum, on welfare, unemployed, or just a leech on society. No, I’m talking about today’s teenagers. This came to me when I was watching TV and saw a commercial for a cell phone company. You know the one where the father asks his daughter if she’s going to a friend’s house. She then proceeds to stick her index finger in her ear and talk into her extended little finger as if it were a cell phone. In this way she’s telling her father “I can’t talk to my friends because you haven’t bought me cell phone and their parents have. I need my own cell phone number because you owe it to me.” My first reaction would have been something like this. “Why don’t you walk over to that thing hanging on the wall and pickup the part with a wire connected to it. It’s a new invention called a phone, that has wires running out of the house to places all over the world. The greatest part of it is that you don’t have to worry about being near a tower to have clear reception. Also it doesn’t cost forty-five cents a minute to talk into. So you can talk to your friends for twenty minutes and I won’t complain about the bill. I’ll even bet that your friend’s parents have one of those things in their house. Heck junior, why don’t you go ahead and use the cordless phone next to my chair, so that you can take it up to your room and close the door. That way I won’t be able to hear what you’re talking about.” Now you might be saying that I’m being too harsh about this, but I’m really being quite sensible about it. When the divorce was final from my first wife, I had custody of two teenage children, which I gladly accepted (without child support). I did not raise my children to expect me to go out and give them the things that they wanted (not needed). If they needed clothes, shoes, or something for school, it was provided without hesitation. When all of their friends got cars from their parents, they of course wanted a car. But when I said no, that I would drive them to where ever they needed to go, they said never mind. When I said that I would go halves with them on an older model car, they said never mind. This of course all happened before cell phones became a necessity of life for our children. But I went through it with computers as well. What are the things that we owe our children? We owe them our love and care, which does not include cell phones. Some parents might give their child an item such as this so that they can keep in contact with them. Like if their teenager wants to go hang out at the mall, or go somewhere they don’t want their parents to know where they are. If they knew that you could locate where they were calling from, you would probably see a lot of cell phones forgotten when they left the house. As well, heavens forbid that you give them a quarter so they could use a pay phone to tell you where they are. Now I'm not saying that all teenagers are this way. I'm not going to lump them all together and say that. But there are those that seem to feel this way, and TV is helping to promote this. Worse of all is that its the parents fault that this has come about. So next time your kid ask for something. Stop and think if its something that they want or something that they need. ------------ About the author: Tim Quinton was born October 12, 1956 in Gonzales, Texas. He lived there till he joined the U.S. Army in 1979, and left in 1992. During these years he was stationed in Kansas and Hawaii, where he attended Chaminade University of Honolulu majoring in history. After the service he returned to Gonzales were he lives with his wife Kathy. Email: tquinton@stx.rr.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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