G. Michael Knopf wrote "Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times." The quote was meant to demonstrate a cycle of life or society that had been demonstrated throughout time. Great civilizations were created out of hardship and after a period of becoming highly successful, they declined. Most often because the generations that came after the founders were softer and not able to deal with the obstacles of life. The quote is often dismissed by intellectuals as being oversimplified and not recognizing the complex nature of society. While there is a modicum of truth in that, I think it's very representative of where we are as a nation today.

I often see posts on social media in which we are reminded that Gen. X kids were not coddled by their parents. Kids that grew up in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s were often told to get outside and play and don't come back until the streetlights come on. If you came into the house crying because you were hurt, there better be some broken bones. Otherwise, you were told to rub some dirt on it and walk it off or maybe mom poured some iodine on it which was probably worse than the actual scrape. Generally, they were expected to figure life out on their own. And they were taught responsibility by giving them chores.

Often members of the Gen. X generation will call out the subsequent generations for being soft. We have often called them snowflakes. Although I am actually a member of the boomer generation, I do empathize and identify a lot with Gen. X. Except for one significant detail. Gen. X was the first generation to raise snowflakes. They were the ones that started arranging play dates for their children instead of letting them go out in the neighborhood to play as they did. They were the ones that began putting technology in front of their children to act as a babysitter. They were the ones that began using timeouts instead of dad's belt to teach discipline and correct behavior.

Three labeled generations later, we have kids that were not taught that sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you, unless you allow them to. Kids and even adults today will lose their minds if someone uses the wrong pronoun, which can often change every day. They are the ones that throw temper tantrums if they don't get their way or think someone is taking away their rights simply because someone holds a different opinion. It doesn't matter if their rights are being infringed or not, because their feelings are more important than facts.

Gen. X listened to the so-called intellectuals that began controlling our educational agendas, putting the development of self-esteem ahead of the imparting of knowledge to young skulls full of mush. They told parents that the best way to build self-esteem was to not criticize or punish a child or to not gauge success or improvement in traditional ways such as making them overcome obstacles. When a child failed, it wasn't the child's fault; it was the teacher's fault.

The Boomers didn't teach Gen. X to be that way. Gen. X bought into the idea that your emotions and feelings were more important than anything else. They remembered how it made them feel when mom or dad disciplined them. When mom or dad said you're not going to bed until you finish your dinner or your homework. When mom or dad told him to stop crying and get over the problem. What they didn't remember is that short term feeling of being rejected led to long term life skills and the earned reputation of being a tough generation of kids.

We are watching what G. Michael Knopf wrote about in action. What I'm hoping is that one of these labeled generations decides that in these hard times we're going to make them hard so they can create good times again.