> I'm afraid. I'm afraid that the adolescents of my age will one day take over the world. Recently the faith I have had in teenagers has taken a sharp drop as I watch their festering media-rotten minds leak away any maturity, intelligence, emotion and ability they had left. I have always felt a little out of the crowd, and that may contribute to my blistering opinions of them, but I simply cannot comprehend what drives them to drink recklessly, smoke, toss their virginity out the window, and/or not care at all about anything that really matters in life. I just want to know if someone could help me understand these people.

I'm not afraid. Are there lots of people who don't seem to get the big picture? Sure. And that's sad. But I don't see any fundamental difference between my generation and those that have come before. One reason I'm not scared is that we have records of concerned adults lamenting that their young generation was uniquely irresponsible and would bring about the downfall of civilization dating back to the time of Plato. People grow up eventually, and those that don't have never been able to cause enough trouble to bring down society. I think we'll be able to handle whatever the this and the next generation throws at us, as our parents did before us.

Bal "Although I've found that most people aren't as bad as you thought once you get to know 'em" anthalus