It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way… – A Tale of Two Cities

My Take – We truly live in a black and white world.  We live in what any of our ancestors would consider abject luxury, but we are bankrupt, not only financially, but also culturally and socially.  We have all the knowledge of the human race at our fingertips, but the number of functional illiterates grows every year.  We spend more on education than we ever have, yet the product of our educational system is very lacking.  Our crime rate is on a downward swing, but the viciousness of crime has skyrocketed.

So what are we going to do about it?  To me, it comes down to two words:  Grow Up.  We have to face the ugly reality that we cannot continue to go deeper into debt, whether it’s the government or the family.  We have to act like parents and make sure that our children are getting at least as good an education as we did, no matter the cost in time and trouble.  We must also raise our children to respect other people and the law, even if it means we’re not their best friends.  None of these options are easy, and few of them will be popular.  But we must find our way out, or we risk wasting everything our ancestors bought with their blood and sweat.