get into a feud over who's biggest and baddest, and both end up dead. Rapper Eminem marries the same woman not once, but twice, and uses vile and degrading words to describe the mother of his child in his music. And a whole generation of kids thinks these are the people to emulate.
I remember what it's like to want to be like your idol. But even in the wild days of early rock 'n' roll, wise parents kept a leash on their children. We might have thought Elvis was to die for, but girls who swooned when he sang didn't routinely run away and become roadies for his band.
There were still values to be upheld, we were reminded by our no-nonsense parents. And there were rules passed down from generations of mostly immigrant great-great-grandparents: Respect your parents, work hard, get an education, do all things in moderation, don't embarrass the family, marry for love and be faithful for life, don't brag, there are some things best kept within the family, don't attract attention, act like a lady (or gentleman), help those less fortunate, don't do anything you wouldn't want to see printed on the front page of the newspaper. I can't remember anything in that list of must-do's about drinking till you puke, or filming yourself having sex with somebody whose name you can't remember 24 hours later, or singing songs with lyrics you couldn't say in front of your mother, or going out clubbing pantiless and being proud of it.
Maybe I missed the memo. My generation's idols were cute (the young JFK, Elvis, Frankie Avalon), smart (Eisenhower, who won the war; Truman, who said, "The buck stops here"), moral (Mahatma Ghandi), helpful (Helen Keller); wise and brave (Winston Churchill). The cute ones we wanted to watch; the others we wrote essays about and hoped someday we'd be lucky enough to develop a few of their qualities.
Today's kids don't know who those wise, brave, smart, moral and helpful people even were; there are very few of them left, it seems. This generation has its own list of idols, generally people with foul mouths and distasteful public habits, too much money and no idea how to spend it wisely, and an attitude of entitlement. That, today, is what kids want to be like.
Can you imagine a world in which Snoop Dogg is president? Lindsay Lohan head of a movie studio? Eminem a school superintendent?
Yikes. Why are rich and famous youngsters the way they are? Well, look at their parents.
Many of them didn't have much upbringing, either, so there was nothing of value or wisdom to pass along to their out-of-control offspring. Just goes to prove money can't buy smarts. But there may be some hope and, wonder of wonders, it just may come from the recent jailbird herself.
Paris Hilton told interviewer Larry King she did a lot of thinking while she was in jail, and decided that 26 was the perfect age to grow up and act like an adult instead of the spoiled little girl who cried for her mommy as she was handcuffed and hauled off to jail. She's tired of partying, of playing dumb, she said, and wants to raise money for underprivileged children, for breast cancer, for muscular dystrophy. Maybe she did learn something in jail.
Carol Bidwell is a Daily News copy editor and longtime grumbler about life in general. Return to Top get into a feud over who's biggest and baddest, and both end up dead.
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