A Word We Never Knew

Narcissism was a word never mentioned in my generation, like Cancer, mainly because it was nonexistent; in our family households, dad ran the show and you'd better shape up or else. There were no other egos involved. You either played by dad's rules or you'd better join the Army.
There was no choice....and if you gave him a hard time, there was always the leather strop hanging by the door to remind you who was boss.

Yes, it was a different world.

And when you got a A in school, you were always asked why couldn't you do better.

There was no concern about your self-esteem; it never even entered into the equation; if you didn't do well, privileges were taken away.

I love it when I hear parents talking about how important it is to bolster self esteem. And we've bolstered so much self esteem, we are now having issues of what the educational establishment calls Narcissism.

As someone who taught at the college level, I was always amazed about how other professors seemed rooted to the idea that there was universal passing and that the students had the upper hand.

However, I remember at the beginning of the Iraq War, I asked a couple of students whether they were worried or concerned about the future and I got a blank look back. These people didn't even know that a war was about to begin and if they did, it was something that would never touch their lives.

A far cry from my generation who had been taught to hide under desks to avoid the awful effects of atomic weapons.

Yes, it was a different world and I was beginning to think not necessarily a better one...