What Happened 2 by Jay Goodman

Without a doubt there is a huge difference in the men and women of today from the past. In my last chapter I talked about what I believed to be the starting point of change in our country. The drug boom in the 1960’s was for sure the start of change, the new wave of thinking was sex, drugs, and rock n roll, that type of behavior led the drum beat for the youth across America. While the boys and girls from the past generations were being raised with morals and to have respect for everyone around them. These new moms and dads were not instilling this type of thinking.

When I was young my father took me outside and showed me how to fish, hunt, how to shoot a rifle, a pistol, how to plant a garden, play sports, how to fly. He would discipline me when I did something wrong, he also taught me to have discipline in my life. By the time I was seven, he had showed me how to make my bed, how he expected my bedroom to look, I had to cut the grass and clean our pool. Naturally my mother spent time with me every day after school, helping me with my homework, there was never a time I could tell her I didn’t feel like doing it, I was going to do my homework as soon as I got home. Just like my father, my mother taught me a lot in life. She made sure we went to Sunday School every week, took us to musicals and operas. She made sure that we were always respectful to everyone around us. She also showed me the importance of prayer and God. People from my mom and dad’s day would also take care of their parents when they got up in age, my grandfather lived with us, so it was like I had another set of parents. This of course opened the door to a lot of other life lessons, as wells as it taught us the importance of family and responsibility. We were always being schooled about life, we were constantly learning. We were taught the real meaning of love, happiness and empathy towards others in life. So once this new generation of sex, drugs and rock n roll began, children being born to a mother who drank, smoked and used drugs her entire pregnancy, these kids were exposed to a life completely different than the children from the past. A lot of these women would have multiple kids by different men, nothing being taught to these kids, no stability in their lives. Most weren’t taught about morals, responsibility, God and defiantly nothing about discipline.

Like I wrote in my last chapter, by the time the 1980’s hit and crack took off like a rocket across the United States, the second round of these children were born. By now there was such a huge difference within the United States, it was hard to believe what was taking place. At this time, America started seeing women leaving their children at home alone for days at a time, or just abandoning them altogether. If they did stay home, these children had no type of role model, mom and her boyfriend usually stayed high all the time, so the kids were put in front of a TV, while other kids were learning to ride a bike, swim, going fishing, playing baseball and learning how to interact with other children. These children’s only look at any type of stability was when their grandfather and grandmother took them for the weekend. It was also about this time that there was a big surge in grandparents having to take custody of their daughter’s kids, either because they saw how these children were being treated or mom got arrested and was going to prison. So now here is this elderly couple in their golden years having to start raising children again. A bad thing for these grandparents was a lot of these children had never had any type of discipline in their lives, they had never been exposed to someone who made them mind and a lot of these grandparents had a tough time dealing with these kids, especially if they were already teenagers or close to being one. These kids were already born to a mom that got high her entire pregnancy, so they were a lot slower mentally and had learning issues. They were never shown any type of discipline or responsibility in their lives. So, the grandparents were also having to deal with their grandchildren’s inability to want to learn anything. Remember these kids had very little discipline, they slept in, sat around watching TV all day, doing pretty much whatever they felt like, these grandparents had their hands full. The kids that did stay with their mom, what were they going to do, more than likely nothing except follow in their mom’s shoes.

Remember what I said about people who were using drugs in the late 60’s, it was usually college kids, yes, they were young, but old enough their brain had time to develop and mature. By the late 80’s, early 90’s kids in grade school were starting to use drugs, crazy thing is, a lot of the time it would be their own mom, dad, or older brother who got these kids high the first time. The people from this era would think it was cool or funny to see their kids high. I even heard people say, “Well they’re going to get high anyway, so at least I can watch them.” I have even seen people tell their children, “Look if you’re going to drink or get high, all I ask is you stay at home.” Once again, how crazy does this sound? These parents can’t even see how fucked up their own life is from dropping out of school and staying high every day. They’ve never been taught right from wrong, so they don’t see anything wrong with their own children drinking, smoking or doing drugs.

It was also about this time that something else took place, crime. Don’t get me wrong, there has always been people breaking the law, but by the end of the 1980’s, it was out of control. In the 1970’s, the state of Ohio had maybe ten prisons, the average age of men going to prison in my day was twenty-five years and up, but because of these children who were born to these teenage girls hooked on drugs and their kids starting to use drugs at such a young age, America saw a crime wave like never before. Kids as young as 13, 14 were being arrested for serious crimes ranging from drugs, theft, burglary, assault, guns, to robbery and murder. Now these kids that had no type of education, no morals, no standards and zero discipline in their lives were sent off to reform school to live with other children just like them or in some cases worse.

Now picture this, here is all these kids with mental issues, they are unruly, with the people working there trying to make them mind, what ended up happening is a lot of the kids got beat. What did they learn in this place? Absolutely nothing. In most cases they left reform school worse than when they arrived. Plus, they made friends with other kids in there, so upon leaving, a lot of them would hook up and commit more crimes together. Now it was back to reform school or to adult prison, thus this cycle of their life would begin. It’s amazed me how many of these teenagers think exactly the same, believing each time that they have it figured out. I know what I did wrong, only to leave and come back again and again. It was also about this time that music and Hollywood started glamourizing drug dealers and a new trend of criminals was built. Crack was cheap and plentiful, everyone could see themselves being the man, but in most cases these men were small dope dealers, who would be lucky to make it a few months or a year before they got busted. Now here comes another new generation of children being born.

As I go into my next chapter, I’ll explain how these new children have turned out even worse, how these young kids and adults have changed everything about America.