Consequences

It's not just "older" people like myself who seem a bit disgruntled about the state of things...younger generations, especially. I hear more and more parents in their 30s describe how things were better "in our day." "Too many parents and not enough parenting" is an idea that's getting lots of play in the media and in discussions everywhere. Whether it be kids with guns, an 8-year-old crashing a car, killing his 6-year-old sister, a 10-year-old shooting his grandmother, Miley Cyrus supposedly embarrassing herself and her family by twerking at the MTV Awards show, or Johnny Manziel behaving inappropriately in his first college football game of the year following two years of legal issues, the feeling is that young people today are out of control. Why? There are a million suggestions, but in the case of Johnny Manziel, pundits opine that it is simply because he's never been held accountable for his actions, by his parents, coaches, or the NCAA. Perhaps. But I happen to think that the issue of accountability reverberates throughout society. some examples:
Politicians, athletes, and movie personalities who have cheated on their spouses, groped females, taken illegal substances or simply sexted inappropriate messages have generally been forgiven if they profess sorrow and apologize sincerely. Not only that, but these people are generally allowed to go on with life (after a short time spent in remorse) as if nothing happened. Anthony Wiener is a perfect example...he was leading in the race for mayor of New York until someone found out that, by his actions after the first embarrassment caused him to resign from Congress, he continued his immoral ways!
In Wisconsin, at least, it seems like every week I read about someone involved in an accident being cited for his or her 5th or more DUI. Hello? After two violations, one might think a simple loss of points (they keep driving anyway) or suspended license is not enough of a sanction. It's not, but we somehow manage to loophole our way out of significant punishment.
Thus, when adults decry the lack of parenting and a need to hold children accountable so they don't grow up to be adult miscreants, there seems to be a decided lack of leadership willing to do the holding.
Parenting is a hard job...grandparenting can be harder...but there is a lot of blame to go around.