Have you ever wondered why we in America, no, throughout the world are so clueless? By that, I mean we seem to never learn from the mistakes of those preceding us.

Now, follow me here. History repeats itself on a broad scale as well as a more personal one. How many wars have been fought over the last four thousand years? Hundreds, and the majority basically for the same reason, someone trying to stop another from taking what does not belong to him. Name me a war with another genesis.

Don’t laugh. Just stop and think about it a moment. We wouldn’t be in Iraq if Hussein had not coveted power and money. Japan and Germany tried to take what was not theirs bringing about WWII. Ditto Germany in WWI.

In all reluctance, I have to admit I truly believe some portion of this earth will forever be witness to a state of war. We’ll never adjust.

On a more personal note, this same inaptitude for adjustment is prevalent even on the familial level of parent and child.

And that is what is so sad.

Perhaps, if we could manage a readjustment of the relationship between parents and children, the larger scheme of the world might also manage to find its own readjustment. I know, I know, I’m dreaming. But, what can it hurt?

A couple Sundays back, I read an article regarding the generation gap between affluent teens and their parents.

The argument stated that affluent teens experienced three times the emotional problems as the national rate; depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and higher psychosomatic disorders; and that affluent kids feel less close to their parents than other teens.

I disagree. Students from every economic level face such problems. Fortunately, not the majority.

How is it one group experiences such stress and another does not?

Simple. The majority of the students have their heads on right for they come from a home where the parents or parent insist the family is a whole, each member of which has various responsibilities and duties.

The last time I heard, it was no crime for a child carry out household chores; nor to work a part time job; nor to be responsible for paying for his own vehicle, nor for maintaining appropriate grades so he could live a successful life in the future.

If I’ve seen it once during forty-one years in education, I’ve seen it dozens of times. Misguided parents give a child everything only to have him or her turn on them with a vengeance, pulling some stupid stunt that ruins his life as well as theirs.

Let me tell you something, folks. Your dream of medical or law school for you teenage boy or girl goes whistling down the tube big time when; a. he/she drops out of school; b. gets busted on a felony; c. gets her or she becomes pregnant; and d. a dozen other possibilities. From then on, your “future president” is stuck with minimum wage jobs, and you’re stuck supporting him and his family for the rest of your life. The definitive word is “stuck.”