Halloween dreams and nightmares

[Andybev01]

This guy, JD Macpherson, is a favorite 'roots' singer/songwriter.

He's from Oklahoma and I heard about him 5 years ago when he released an album of original Christmas songs called 'Socks', which is on my 10 favorite holiday records list ever since.

This track is from an earlier vinyl and is on heavy rotation on my contemporary Halloween playlist, it being an end times tune and all.

https://youtu.be/U_GEch9cyJg?feature=shared

[Murfreesboro]

It's true that every generation believes it's living in the End of Days. Sometimes I think it's almost a wish, a reluctance to believe that the world could go on without them in it. And of course your aunt is Biblically correct, Andy. Even Jesus said He couldn't tell people when it would happen, only that it would come at the end of the age of the Gentiles, whatever that means.

I fret that my two younger kids don't want to take responsibility for their own adult lives. They could be using this expectation of the world ending to avoid growing up. I'm not sure what I did wrong in raising them.

Then again, a whole lot of things predicted in the Bible really do seem to be lining up right now. So iDK. They could be right. But I don't think that's a good enough reason to procrastinate living their lives fully while we're all still here.

ETA: neat song, Andy!

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

It's true that every generation believes it's living in the End of Days. Sometimes I think it's almost a wish, a reluctance to believe that the world could go on without them in it.

I think that anybody that is religious, and a true believer in Biblical texts wants to be there when the end comes to witness the events so that they have vindication that what they believed in their whole lives is proven true, even if it's just to say that they were right. I could go on with examples of religious zealots that have gone to extreme measures to impose their beliefs and prove they are right, but I'll leave it there for now.

I fret that my two younger kids don't want to take responsibility for their own adult lives. They could be using this expectation of the world ending to avoid growing up. I'm not sure what I did wrong in raising them.

Here's the thing with that, IF that is the real reason, and they are using the end of days prophecy as a excuse to remain stagnant in their personal development, then that is through no fault of your own.

It is because of the media, the church, and society in general, that have been force-feeding the message that the end of days will occur in their lifetime, it's been happening since before I was born, and I watched my generation live through it, and everybody that has come since, or that is yet to come will hear the same c-r-a-p.

Going back to the beginning of the 90s, and as we approached the year 2000, my generation was constantly being told that the world was going to end in the year 2000, there were shows like Ancient Prophecies, which you can currently find on Youtube, that filled everybody's head with the doom and gloom message that the world will end and there's nothing you can do about it so just give up and die. But guess what? The world didn't end. They said the same thing about 2012, then it was 2020, but they were wrong, and now they're saying 2030, 2035, and 2050, but those idiots will always be wrong.

But most young people don't know better, and can't think for themselves, so they believe the doom and gloom message, and sit around waiting for it to happen. I knew weak minded kids like that and I always laughed at them because they really thought the world was going to end, so they had no ambitions.

Even now, they are still bombarding the youth with the same doom and gloom message. When my kids go to church they constantly push the idea on them that the end is near, of course, my wife and I tell them not to worry about it because it probably won't happen anytime soon. Besides, if the Rapture happened tomorrow, I know they will be fine, but my wife and I have both committed sin so we will probably be left behind to deal with the 7 years of tribulation. I guess it's a good thing that we have guns and a large supply of ammo.

Don't get me wrong, I think that teaching the stories in the Bible to every new generation is very important, as they will need those stories and lessons to navigate their way through life, but there's no reason to let the stories about what might or might not happen have a negative effect on your life. As I said before, just sit back and enjoy the ride, and live a good life. The end will come when it comes.

Again, I said IF that is the main reason why your kids are avoiding growing up as you put it, but I don't think that it is. Something that older generations don't really understand is just how stacked the deck is against young people today. There are number of reasons for this, the cost of living is the worst it's ever been, the dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to, every time minimum wage goes up, so does the price of everything you need to survive, so they are forced to live paycheck to paycheck just barely getting by, and they can only put aside very little, if any savings the way previous generations could.

Also due to overpopulation, even if they come from good homes, and they are well educated, it's harder for them to secure employment because there is so many people competing for the same position. I've personally seen young people with college degrees that spent thousands and put themselves in debt that can't find employment in their chosen field that have to take a position waiting tables in my restaurant because they have no choice. The ones that do put themselves in debt spend the rest of their lives trying to pay it, and if they can't then they end up with bad credit, and they can forget about buying a house, not just because of their debt, but the prices of houses are always going up and becoming unaffordable for younger people today.

At least your kids are out there and working, I know so many parents with kids aged from late teenagers - 30 year olds that still live at home and can't or won't find employment. Believe me, as a parent, I understand that way of thinking, that they are your kids, you love them unconditionally, so you won't ever turn your back on them, and unfortunately some kids use that to their advantage.

And of course your aunt is Biblically correct, Andy.

Wait a minute, Andy's aunt said that? Well, I guess that since he is a part of my extended Halloween family, being my distant cousin, twice removed, that she is his aunt too!

Andy - Oddly enough, I found that song rather soothing.

[Murfreesboro]

Sorry about the misattribution, HH.

I think the end times will come at some point, but it's impossible to know when, and the only reasonable thing to do is to live your life as fully as possible. After all, if you believe in a creator God, it follows that He put you here for a reason.

My middle son is doing fairly well right now, but he had serious mental health issues in his mid-20s that derailed him and have made it difficult for his dad and me to push him out of the nest, so to speak. It was a real shock to all of us.

My daughter graduated college into the pandemic and lost all her momentum. She needs to set some goals for herself.

What you say about the difficulties being faced by the younger generation is quite true, but then, every generation has its challenges. Back in the 70s we faced stagflation and the disintegration of the system our parents had known, where they expected to spend their entire careers with one company or firm. Academics like me faced a shrinking pool of college-age students, something that is happening again now. Then, as my mother often said, her generation graduated into the Depression and World War. So everybody has it tough, just in different ways.

My own kids faced incredible competition for college because there were basically two college age generations at once, the kids born to children of the 70s, and those born to boomers my age who delayed it for so long. My older son was part of the largest first grade class in the history of the US. Nobody talks about that, but the children of the 90s were more numerous even than the baby boom. Of course that numerical competition will follow them forever, from getting a place in childhood swim classes, to getting into first-choice colleges, to establishing careers and buying homes, etc.

[Andybev01]

You two might enjoy a movie called 'Don't Look Up', starring Leonardo DiCaprio and just about everyone else in Hollywood.

It's about a group of scientists who warn the people of earth that a comet is on its way to wipe out our planet but no one seems to care.

A dark comedy for sure.

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"Wait a minute, Andy's aunt said that? Well, I guess that since he is a part of my extended Halloween family, being my distant cousin, twice removed, that she is his aunt too! "

Does that mean you're taking me with to Italy this summer?!

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I wasn't implying that any previous generation had it easy, and I apologize if it came across that way. I also know that the issues that people face will vary for different reasons, such as location, economic, political, and social situations that they find themselves in that are beyond their contol that can impact personal growth. I guess that coming from the 80s, the decade of excess, and watching the country grow to where it did back then, that I have a different personal view on it. But I was talking about what I have observed specifically in my area, and the difference between when I was growing up, and what the young people today that actually do work have to struggle with.

When my mother left my father, it was very hard for her to find decent employment because she had been held hostage as a housewife for 16 years, and the field she was previously in had changed so much that they wouldn't even give her a chance, so she had to get a regular 9-5 grinder just to provide for us. It was rough for the first few years, so that's why I went to work at age 13 so that I could help her with the bills, so she could have some relief and be there for my siblings. I've said before how I had a certain amount of animosity towards the kids my age because most of them didn't have to work until they graduated and their parents forced them out the door. I did know some kids that started working in high school around age 16, but it was only the girls that were working at the mall on the weekends, while most of the guys I knew just wanted to sit at home and play video games.

During that time I learned important lessons about life, that made me the person that I am today, and I'm thankful for that. My mother eventually did get back into her field after I graduated, and she had a good career, she is retired now, but she and a friend with her kids run a small crafts business, it's more of a hobby for them, and they have fun doing it.

As for the young people today, I know that the ones that work hard still struggle with their bills. Most of the people that I employ under the age of 25 either have to share a apartment with other people, or they have to live at home with their parents just to try to put some savings aside. It wasn't like that when I was young, I got my first apartment when I was 18, and it was a very clean and spacious place for only $600 a month. When people tell me the cost to rent a place today I'm shocked, not only are the prices 4 times higher than it was 20 years ago, but the small space that you get and the flat out unacceptable conditions that the place is in is ridiculous for what they pay.

It used to be that your monthly bills didn't exceed more than 30% of your income, you would spend some of it on yourself, and the rest would go into your savings, that was the standard when I was younger. But now due to the high cost of living, some people are spending their whole paycheck on rent. Like I said, they have to share a place to get by, or live at home with their parents.

As for motivating the young people today, it's hard to say, the ones that are determined to work for what they want should be fine, at least you would hope that their hard work will actually give them a good life. The ones that use excuses like some of the lazy people that I know personally, need to be pushed in the right direction, I'm not saying that you should threaten them with consequences, because giving them a ultimatum isn't the right approach to the situation, but maybe give them some incentive or goal to work towards that they can actually accomplish, rather than something that is so unrealistic that they won't even try to do it.

Andy - We watched that movie and we loved it. We enjoyed Streep's performance the most, but then again, she's great in every movie.

As for Italy, anything is possible. There's still time for one of my relatives to back out.