The Internet Thieves?

I just went through a tiring process of wiping my computer clean and reloading everything on it.  Why you say?  Because some idiot out there in Cyberland wants to steal my information so he, or she, sent me a Trojan on Facebook.  Now normally, I don’t open messages that have strange looking links or don’t have any text to explain the message.  I also don’t open any messages that say I am the subject of a You Tube video or some nonsense like that, but two days ago, my brain was suffering from some unknown disease or mental lapse and I opened a message from one of my FB friends.  OMG!!!  The avalanche of pop-ups and new screens was my first clue and I couldn’t do anything but curse! 

Why do people do that!  People work to get the things they have (most people), even Facebook friends lists, and they don’t want other people coming around and destroying or stealing the things they have worked so hard to get.  It’s because we have become lazy as a nation.  We have adopted an “instant gratification” mentality and we have passed that on to our children.  No longer do we have to work for what we get.  No longer do we feel we should have to put any effort into what we do because we feel we are “entitled” to it.  Our children are “entitled” to have a TV in their room, Xbox 360, DVD, cell phone, computer and a MP3 player just because they are “our” children and everyone else’s children has one.  Our children are “entitled” to get an “A” in school because they come to school everyday and their parents didn’t know they had homework.  Our children are “entitled” to have the highest priced clothing and shoes to go to school in because they are “our” children and it makes them more “popular”. Our kids don’t do chores anymore, earn their allowance, or have neighborhood paper routes.  Now we make mommy or daddy deliver the paper or we have mommy or daddy drive us around so we can go dance or piano, to soccer practice, football practice or any other extra-curricular activity we feel we want to try at mommy’s and daddy’s expense.  And then we wonder why “Little Johnny and Little Suzie” grow up to be neighborhood terrors, cyber-bullies and criminals.  IT’S BECAUSE THEY NEVER HAD TO WORK FOR ANYTHING!!!  It’s always been handed to them.  They never had to work for anything as children, so why should they expect to have to work for anything as adults.  Parents don’t get that.  And then when Little Johnny and Little Suzie get to be about 14 or 15 and they start demanding they get a car or demanding that they be able to do something like date or go out late at night, or go to that party, parents suddenly become indignant and call their children “ungrateful”.

I use to work in a warehouse where I was a Warehouse Supervisor.  New employees would come in and begin work.  After about the first week, they start asking about raises and time off and after the first month how they can get a higher paying position.  They hadn’t even learned the basics yet and already they were asking for raises and promotions.  When they get disciplined or corrected, they get belligerent.  Then when they fail to receive what they think they are “entitled” to, they go “postal”.  Thanks mom and dad!

As a nation, we have lowered our standards for ourselves and our children.  In schools, businesses, and in our homes we have begun to expect less and less of ourselves and our children and when you expect less, you get less!!  You get failures of the school systems to educate our children and overbooked jails and prisons filled with people who have done exactly what we have taught them to do…get it for as little effort as possible!  You get poorly inspected pipes and failures to do routine maintenance.  You get Deepwater Horizon and PG&E pipe explosions.  And you get trojans in your email!!