LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 3.7.2012

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

+ My generation changed the world; now, kids get pierced
Dear Editor:
I’m writing in the hope that people will listen to the voice of experience.

In my day, in the 1950s an ’60s, there was a very different dress code: Girls couldn’t wear slacks of any kind; jeans and shorts were verboten for everyone; skirts had to be a certain length; boys’ hair had to be short, etc.

We never thought of this as cruel or unjust. It just was what it was.

When I read what the new dress code was, I had to laugh. Jeans? Flip-flops? Shorts? This is a uniform?

This is a joke.

Remember, mine was the generation that wasn’t afraid to step up and speak out. We were the ones who campaigned for civil rights and women’s rights. We protested against an unjust war (remember Vietnam?). We even took down a president who had been lying to the people. Yes, he was a crook.

My generation did “express” themselves, but in a positive way, not a negative way. Nowadays, all kids seem to do (besides walking around with rings in their noses and navels and any other part that can be pierced, wearing their pants pulled down to expose their underwear, or maiming their bodies with ugly tattoos) is waste their time sitting at computers tweeting, posting suggestive pictures on Facebook or chit-chatting on their cell phones. This is expressing themselves?

Is this really what we want the next generation to be?

My generation grew up with rules and regulations, including strict dress codes, and we helped change the world for the better. What is this generation doing for the world?

Charlotte Smith
Palm Coast