Me Myself My Mirror

By Alan Forrest Smith I took one of my sons into Manchester to get some new clothes. As we walked around we went into different shops looking at lots of stuff. Now this particular son of my takes forever to choose. You know, he knows exactly what he wants but still takes what feels like an age to choose. Anyway, when we went into this shoe shop at the end of the wall was a large mirror. My son Ed was trying some clothes on so I sat on this bench near the mirror. I noticed that all the kids that came into the shop would change walking towards the mirror. Some would swagger, some would stretch, some would widen, some would just become plain cool in a split second of time. They all looked cool, I felt old! What went through my mind though was I can't remember a generation of kids looking so good. They all have the clothes, the hair, the make-up, the everything. As we walked around even the ugly kids looked beautiful, the 12 year olds looked 19, the fat kids could look slim and even the uncool goths looked pretty cool. This is a generation that are fed lies about the mirrors image. What do I mean? We are now in the beautifully fake generation where the veneer of fakedom had become king. The volume of trash magazines showing the latest bikini being worn by a multitude of quarter decent actors that would never have passed an audition 30 years ago. We feed our kids endless crap about how they should look like this, look like that, live this way, live that way. Yet despite the fact most of these media hologramic images of short lasting happiness we still portray these ideals as they ones to follow. I was in another store just yesterday. Two so called media babes were on the cover of a magazine. Bronzed, toned, every hair in place, great breasts, great legs, great everything. Both drunk at about 3am falling out of a nightclub flashing their underwear. On the surface both seem to be living life like an endless party. When you dig deeper inside both seem to be living a sad miserabel ME ME ME life that is falling apart at every seam. These are the images, the models we feed our kids as the perfect ones to mirror. And the guys, they are fed a constant stream of cool tattooed violence where no barriers are in place and glorification of nothing is acceptable. It got me thinking about these images. Who are the people in the office that feed them to our kids? Are our 12 year old girls are being fed this trash by forty something men under the cover of "editor". Are they feeding the minds of our children with images of what they want? And the guys, who feeds our young mends minds? Is it guys that have not only never grown up but are beyond the realm of any kind of morality or boundaries? Then we wonder what is going wrong with our kids? Some will say this is a generation of 'Me, Myself My Mirror' because that is what we see on the streets. But you know what the truth is? We are seeing a stream of kids that have bought into the lies being pushed by cash strapped media animals that are only interested in selling more magazines. A kid wants to be loved. A kid wants to be recognized as doing great. A kid wants to be adored and applauded. This is what makes kids grow. When they don't get that at home from mum and dad or their guardian ... they will listen to what they feel is the next best thing, their peers. And if their peers are feeding their brains with crap, they'll be influenced also. So although the kids look fantastic I see a generation of kids that are hungry for love and attention. Mum and dad are just too busy. In fact when I was out with my son I kept seeing this. A parent with their kid walking, sitting, standing. Whilst the kid was asking them a question, the parent was texting someone. What does that say to the kid? It says "I am too busy to talk right now as I am texting someone more important than you" Right? Dad reads whilst his son is asking him a question. Mum watches TV whilst the son asks a question. Mum and dad texting everyone and anyone whilst the son asks a question. Son eventually feels unloved and unwanted. Son follows peers and takes the love that his peer group give him or her. So when we see the kids of Me Myself My Mirror ... Next time I am going to see them as unloved kids that are needing to feel like they have a real significance on this planet. ME: I am me, I want you to see me. MYSELF: I am going to focus on myself as no one loves me. MIRROR: I will mirror those that appear to love me, my life is now about my image, I am what I see and nothing else. And sadly there is the problem. We feed our kids crap via TV, trash magazines and other media  driven dribble put out by forty something editors then we wonder why our kids get so involved in the surface of life. So many kids now become that 2 dimensional image they see in a magazine or TV when the reality is we are 3 dimensional at every level. A 2 dimensional image has no love, no warmth, no aura, no personality. After all how many times have we seen gorgeous models in magazines and they look like goddesses. Yet when they finally give their first live interview we feel almost shocked that this image of godliness cannot string 3 words together in a sentence! This is the ideal we allow our kids to model as the way to live. Now before I go ... most kids are incredible and will always make their own choice thank goodness. However I hope the above is worth observing. I hope it creates some kind of reaction good or bad. These are horrible depth less times for our kids. They are handed a mirror surface unsustainable non reality as a reality. Our kids are beautiful, amazing and of course the future. Lets look after them. Just an observation about the Me Myself My Mirror Generation. I'd love to know what you think. If my posts have stirred any kind of thought in you, post your opinion and let me know. I approve all posts. Make sure you also leave your web address. My blog gets tons of traffic, I'd love to send some your way. Alan Forrest Smith