By Billy “Kneecap” Braddock

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about “Youth Misery Index”. I couldn’t figure out why they were so miserable. So I started comparing my youth to the youth of today:

• I had my first jobs when I was 10 years old. I had a paper route, sold TV Guides, cleaned restrooms at the local service station after school, and worked on farms and horse ranches in the summertime.

• Today, the government won’t even let you work until you are 16. No wonder youth unemployment rate is 16.1%.

• Got my own apartment as soon as I got my driver’s license.

• Today, kids are still living with their parents after graduating college.

• After I graduated high school I wasn’t unable go to a regular college, I couldn’t afford it. So, I would take courses at community colleges. I would also find out where the college professors would hang out. If they were teaching something I was interested in, I would buy them a couple of drinks and ask them if I could audit their class. Most were very receptive.

• Today, the average student loan debt is almost $30,000, and they end up with a worthless piece of paper that can’t even provide them with a good paying job.

• When I went to high school, the pickup I was driving had a gun rack on the back window. In the rack there was a 12 gauge shotgun and a 30/30 Winchester. The glove compartment had a 357 Magnum. I could shoot a squirrel blindfolded, but I always found it hard to blindfold the squirrel.

• Today, you get suspended for wearing an NRA T-shirt with a picture of a gun on it.

• When I graduated high school the national debt was $300 billion with each person’s share about $2500.

• Today, the national debt $17 trillion and each person’s share is $52,948.

• I grew up with a television (which I ate many a TV dinner in front of) that was the size of a refrigerator, had a black and white 11 inch screen, and 12 channels. It took 10 min. to warm up and another 10 min. playing with the horizontal and vertical hold to get a picture. At midnight the picture changed to a test pattern until 5 AM. When the station came back on it would announce a call sign then play the National Anthem. The party line telephone was on the wall with a handle on the side that you would crank to get the attention of an operator who would get your number for you.

• Today, I carry a cell phone. It’s a telephone, a TV, a radio, a camera, GPS, a computer, etc. etc. etc… I can contact just about anybody in the world.

After comparing my youth with the youth of today, I think I can realize why the misery index has skyrocketed from 83.5 in 2009 to 98.6 in 2013. Our educational system has indoctrinated them to believe that there is no more opportunity. The government will take care of all your needs.

We had the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers, and Generation X, Y, and Z. If we don’t teach our youth that we are a country of “opportunity” that does not favor socialism, we will end up with a “Lost Generation”. We need to teach them that it doesn’t matter if the glass is half empty or half-full, there’s still room for more whiskey.

I never wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed. Who the hell wants to go through life acting like a damn squirrel?

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