Words of Wisdom?

I read something in the paper this morning that made me giggle. It made me think about how we all go through the same steps in our lives, we all struggle with the same things and we all go through the same thought processes even though we might not see it from the outside. It doesn't matter what path you take in life - you'll likely have similar thoughts and similar concerns as everybody else. I don't think we're nearly as unique as we'd like to make ourselves out to be.

It was a quote by Joni Mitchell, a folk singer who gained fame in the 1970s. It went like this:

"My first four albums covered the usual youth problems -- looking for love in all the wrong places -- while the next five are basically about being in your 30s. Things start losing their profundity; in middle-late age, you enter a tragedian period, realizing that the human animal isn’t changing for the better. In a way, I think I entered straight into my tragedian period, as my work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet. Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero: She marks the turning point."

Lately I've been feeling exactly like this. I guess it's a path we will all take at some point - and there is some comfort in knowing that those who have gone before me experienced the same things I am experiencing now. Watching the world change around you and experiencing what you perceive to be the decline of civilization has been something that every generation has gone through.

The best comparison I can give in my world is... people who drive ridiculously expensive cars but don't pay their vet bills. I'm only using the vet bill thing as an example - but it outlines the lack of priority that seems to define the younger generation nowadays. Make someone else responsible for your choices and don't worry about the tab - let someone else pick it up. That seems to be an undercurrent for most of my beliefs today!

I guess the question in my mind is whether or not there truly is a decline or is it just change in general?