C'mon young people-wake up!

Do you do this pretty regularly: You walk into a Dr.'s office, and the receptionist says, "Dr. will be right with you....please have a seat".

As you sit in the uncomfortable vinyl chairs you notice two magazines next to your chair. One is a news magazine with headlines, sub-headlines, and printed news on the cover reflecting topics of Iran's threat to attack Israel, the high rise of gasoline prices, high unemployment, costs of raising a family with today's rising prices, and so on, and so on.

The other magazine broadcasts headlines of Linday Lohan's latest nite club binge, Paris Hilton's lastest romance, Charlie Sheen's "tiger blood" episodes, and of course Justin Beiber's latest hit song, and is he romantically linked with whoever.

Come on tell the truth; what magazine do you pick up to read while waiting for your Dr.? Come on now, tell the truth.  Do you really care about the middle east conflict between Muslims and Jews, or do you want to read about Miley Cyrus's latest tatoo?

The other day I asked a high school senior to name the three branches of government. Her answer amazed me. She responded, "Is it Republican, Democrat, and Independent"? Then I asked if she knew who Snookie was. Her response, "are you kiddin'? I never miss her show. I think she's gonna have a boy".

Of course our young people always have an answer; "Ah, you're just an old news junkie...what did you do when you were my age"?  And they're absolutely right. However, when I try to explain our country and our relationship with the rest of the world has never been as dire as it is now.  They usually get the last word with, "I'm too young to vote anyway, so what can I do"? Or the ones that can vote usually respond, "They're all crooks in Washington...I'm not even gonna vote".

Then I try to explain that in a few short years that are going to fly by,  us old washed up news junkies are going to turn this country over to them, and they better be informed to make the right decisions.  Most of the time they just put in their ear buds, turn on Beiber's latest hit, shake their head, smile at me and walk away.

Like most "old news junkies", I can blink and float back to the ages of our young people. I had a great teen-age life growing up, and was proud to serve in our military, but I will always wish that I had taken more time to absorb current events through the radio and newspapers. You old timers remember most of our news were through radio, newspapers, and of course just CBS, NBC, and ABC.

Today our youth has the Internet, Cable TV, radio, news magazines, and news papers at their available to them.. They have every opportunity to become informed to help them make the right decisions in the future when they do reach the age to make decisions about their families, their careers, and our country.

It really doesn't really matter if you're a Republican, Democrat, or and Independent. It doesn't matter what religion you are, or how you worship. It doesn't matter what educational status you're in. No matter, you must realize that this country will be in your hands sooner than you realize. Will you be ready? Will you be informed?

Parents, grandparents, and other relatives, don't be so concerned with heaping our young children with the latest video games and the latest clothing fashions. Your responsibility as the adult is to help as best you can to prepare our young people so they will make the right decisions about our country in the future. 

By the way, when I told the high school senior the three branches of government are Judicial, Legislative, and Executive, she just responded with a very highly intellectual response, "Huh, what are those"?

And that's Politics with Pete for today......God Bless our Troops