Hiya, I'm Rehgai, 22, almost 23, and I just realized how we are not the ones who are wrecking the world- Our parents started derailing us.

Now, I am a little (a lot) sleepy, but I was dividing up some china, when I realized that the art of dining, salad forks, tea spoons and what not are lost to my generation, except my parents never taught me about dining etiquette- my grandmother did.

My point- Do you think that the previous generation, with the hippies and what not, was a rebellious period, and teaching our generation to continue to be rebellious? I mean, my grandmother would have taught my mom all she taught us, but maybe she thought is was useless, so she didn't pass it on. A minor rebellion, but think about what people used to do as common practice, and then the next generation lost it because they didn't like it, it was dated or another reason? It was shocking, while going through it, how I recognized a red wine vs. White wine vs. water glass.

With reading, how 'boring' it was. I grew up around books, and find it shocking when others don't read. Why did we let these arts get lost in time?

You might call me a dying breed, I was raised to help others no matter if they are grumpy to happy. Also know what is right and what was wrong.

I don't think the world is getting wrecked :). It's changing, and change tends to be perceived as negative (especially by older generations). But it's usually pretty neutral in the end. Or at least the sum of changes ends up being neutral.

That being said, the women in my family used to crochet, and my Mom didn't like knitting/crocheting, etc. so I'm now having to learn it from friends. Cooking is now usually a matter of convenience when it used to be an art--but at the same time, it's nice that someone can choose to cook or not to cook, it's no longer expected that someone should have to do it or be good at it. It's a trade off.

I wouldn't say that our parent's generation started wrecking the world, because I don't think we're wrecking it at all. Things are changing, faster than ever with the internet becoming a common thing, but no one generation is going to kill the world. Parents like to complain about how the kids these days are always on their cellphones and don't talk to people. But our grandparents liked to complain about how our parents listened to too much loud music. And I'm sure our grandparents were seen as rebellious at some point too. Yes some practices are dying out, proper sit down meals, discussing business face to face, and that's not good. But other practices are being created at the same time, being polite on forums (alright not all of them but Kofk is pretty nice), being charitable (look at the things reddit has done for some people), and in general everything is more openly shared and less biased.

There may be an argument for actually destroying the world (global warming, wars and whatnot) but I'm going to ignore those ones for now and just say that as a society, we're probably going to be alright.

I agree. I feel that we lost a lot of things, without creating that much positive change in exchange. I hope we'll get to create something new and positive for our future, but I feel that it's important to not forget where we came from.

I don't mean wrecking as in completely destroying the world, but wrecking how we were once.
One thing someone mentioned was we are more charitable- I call BS. We see it happening more often, because of the internet, and people like the spotlight. Sure, more people might donate, but only because of more unpure beliefs of being in the spotlight. I get with nowadays connections, we can help the world, but if I knocked on my neighbor's door and asked for a cup of sugar, I might honestly have the door slammed in my face. Neighborly Charity, as well a common courtesy is definitely down.

Times have not really changed, the people have not really changed. How much we interact with others has changed. People think that more of this, that, and the other is happening, but it's similar proportions. The world populations has increased, media and communication have increased, and travel have increased. This led to us being bombarded with a wealth of information and being confused as to how to digest it.

I agree in some ways... people are becoming... lazy? I guess that's the word for it. They don't want to take the time to learn proper manners, home making skills or even how to speak/read/write in their native language. They want everything handed to them: government assisted income, healthcare, housing, etc. A lot of people do things solely for how it will benefit them. It's become all about "me" and what "I" want. We are selfish and greedy.

Also my grandmother is the one that taught us etiquette and skills like cooking, cleaning and so forth. She also taught me to sew, crochet, knit, embroider and other similar things. I am also the only one out of 13 grandchildren to actually let her teach me. My mom knows how to do all of that as well but she had to work to support our family and didn't have time to show me herself.