this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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Asklemmy
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It's getting harder every year.
I remember well the constant fear of nuclear war in the 1980's.
I remember the wonder we felt when the Berlin Wall fell and Soviet Union collapsed. A hope of a tomorrow free of fear.
I remember the dreadful recession of the early 1990's and the steep economical rise that followed it.
I remember the amazing advancements in technology and the standard of living in the late 1990's. And at the same time, it felt like the world was coming to it's senses.
I was 21 in the year 2000. The world was full of promise, technological advancements were just pouring in, old mortal enemies were finding common ground and it seemed that we were slowly heading towards a Star Trek - like post scarcity utopia.
This age of hope eneded by the finance crisis of 2007-2008. Russia tried the waters with the war in Georgia. The general atmosphere of the world turned towards gloom again. And the downward spiral just seems to keeps going and going....
Yet I continue the work I started when I chose teaching as my profession in those golden years of hope. The kids are very different today, any class from 20 years ago would be a piece of cake compared with the problems they have now. But if a change for the better is to come, it will come from the kids. My generation is hopelessly lost in consumer greed and watching mindless "reality" shows that they somehow feel more important than real life.
I alone cannot be the change we need, but I CAN educate a few hundred kids and with good luck, maybe a dozen or few of them will have a some effect for a better future.
Idk sounds to me like you are the change we need. You're investing your energy into the future without asking for selfish repayment. You're good people. From my perspective you are still keeping that hope of a better future alive and burning, nurturing it in the hearts and minds of the young, allowing it to grow strong in a protected environment. You are EXACTLY what the world needs right now. So thank you Internet friend.
Here in Finland, the under 25s are much more conservative than Millennials or even Gen X. The most popular party of that demographic in our last parliamentary election was a right wing extremist one โ and I do mean extremist: they have multiple literal neo-Nazi politicians, and our Speaker of the Parliament who's from that party has publicly fantasized about murdering gay people.
I've given up any hope of things getting better in my lifetime. I'm actually somewhat thankful I've got a medical condition that means I've only got about a 50% chance of even being alive in 20 years; dying from multiple organ failure is not something I look forward to, but it seems much more attractive than where we're heading
Thank you for your well written comment. More importantly, thank you very much for your work as an educator.