Look at people these days, no one's ever home, they're always out doing
things. Many is the day I'm the only one home just about on my whole street
for upwards of 12 hours at a time.Energy and all that food crap everyone
tries to pawn off on us is just that, crap. People just have too much to do
these days in some areas, and with all the gimme's in other areas, they want
everything given to them beyond that. Things as a whole are very bad now,
more so than anyone realizes I think. You have people working 2 and 3 jobs,
everyone's looking out for themselves and no one else generally,. Some are
willing to work for what they want and make things work, the rest want
everything given to them, don't work all that hard if at all, it's very
scary, and people think the election will change things, I have news for
you, politicians are the worst of the bunch when it comes to looking out for
themselves and not caring in the least about anyone else.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: the general decline of amateur radio
> your right.
> In day to day life, volunteerism certainly lacks in most communities.
> of course there are extreme situations where volunteerism becomes the norm
> and expected such as in the New Orleans disaster and during other natural
> disasters across the southern US.
> However, people just don't bother to take the time, or perhaps don't have
> the energy to take the time to help others as much as they once did.
> Our grandparents didn't have mass polution to battle on a daily basis,
> they
> weren't subjected to fast food, junk food, bad food and high sugar content
> food like we are today. Our energy levels are constantly being depleted
> by
> our unconscious and generally unknown battle with our ever worsening
> environment. I know I sound like a tree hugger with this kind of stuff,
> but
> it's still true to a large extent. You see kids with alergies today that
> didn't exist 40 years ago. Most schools have banned peanut butter and
> peanuts from lunches because of alergies...even strawberries, bananas and
> in
> one very odd situation my son was in, bread was not allowed in lunches.
> Some would argue this is due to higher awareness of kids health issues,
> but
> it is a simple case of mass amounts of children being alergic to things
> that
> were never much of an issue before. I blame our environment for these
> changes.
> Anyway, my whole point here is that these sorts of environmental health
> issues tend to sap our energy levels and we go into survival mode...IE,
> look after oneself first. This has certainly lent itself to the decline
> of
> amateur radio as a community oriented hobby.
> as it has to most other community oriented programs and tradditions.
>
> 73
> Colin, V A6BKX
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Louis Kim Kline" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 8:51 PM
> Subject: Re: the general decline of amateur radio
>
>
>>
>> Hi Colin.
>>
>> You are right. I see it in conversations that I have with co-workers who
>> are 15 or 20 years younger than I, and just the differences in life
>> experiences over that time span is staggering. And I haven't even turned
>> 50 yet.
>>
>> I think that Amateur Radio is a victim of the decline of volunteerism in
>> america. I cannot speak for Canadian or British society as I haven't
> lived
>> in those places, but I see it in the U.S. in a number of things, like the
>> decline of volunteer fire departments, organizations for our youth like
> the
>> scouts or 4-H, etc. Part of it is that people who are in the prime of
> life
>> are just to busy trying to earn a living to invest in the community like
>> they used to, and so that puts even more of the burden on older
>> people. Amateur Radio is falling victim to some of the same forces that
>> are weakening our other community organizations. Add to that the
>> plethera
>> of electronic technologies that compete for time, and you can almost
> expect
>> a decline in activity.
>>
>> All that being said, what do we do about it? Wringing our hands doesn't
>> help. I do try to make myself and my station available for new hams, and
>> try to get equipment into the hands of young hams, but even that seems to
>> fall short.
>>
>> 73, de Lou K2LKK
>>
>> At 06:14 PM 11/3/2008 -0700, you wrote:
>> >well, as was said already in this thread, amateur radio as a hobby is
>> >top
>> >heavy with aging hams. Most people over 60 are conservative in their
>> >thinking already.
>> >And if not conservative, then they don't necesarily have the where
> withall
>> >to learn new technologies and embrace them and utilize them in the
>> >hobby.
>> >Therefore, i think elmering is going the way of the perverbial dodo. If
> we
>> >could bring some good elmering back by those who are experienced, i
>> >think
>> >the younger generation would be able to use the structured support of
> those
>> >elmers to bring in new things and make them usable by everyone.\
>> >As it stands, the generation gap in ham radio is a strong reflection of
>> >north american society in general. The older, conservative baby boomer
>> >generation who don't like a whole lot of change or newness, and the
> younger
>> >generation who don't even think that way and who automatically embrace
> new
>> >technology as par for the course instead of fighting it for being "new"
>> >Things are changing so very rapidly in our modern society that the
> younger
>> >generation doesn't even realize how different it is from day to day then
> it
>> >was 30 or 40 years ago.
>> >The norm is change, and it's excepted at face value as a part of
>> >everyday
>> >life.
>> >anyway i've rattled on enough.
>> >73
>> >Colin, V A6BKX
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >--
>> >No virus found in this incoming message.
>> >Checked by AVG.
>> >Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.6/1765 - Release Date:
>> >11/3/2008
>> >4:59 PM
>>
>> Louis Kim Kline
>> A.R.S. K2LKK
>> Home e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>> Work e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>> Work Telephone: (585) 697-5740
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>> Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.5/1764 - Release Date: 11/3/2008
> 7:46 AM
>>
>>
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