- Are we truly any smarter today?
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I wonder how much of sex education is learned through television, the Internet, and movies these days? Probably more than we know. As a result, I suspect parents spend considerably less time discussing it with their children than my generation. Back in my day, sex was a subject few people openly discussed, but I'm sure they were just as preoccupied with it. Even though "Playboy" was coming into vogue, nobody discussed such things as erectile dysfunction, social diseases, or openly joked about human sexual anatomy as they do today on prime time. Bawdy jokes were told privately or in Las Vegas. Even tampon ads in magazines were considered risque. The movie "Goldfinger" broke a lot of ground in raising sexual awareness though. Everyone knew what "Pussy Galore" meant, and still chuckle about it to this day.
My father gave me "The Talk" about the birds and the bees somewhere around fifth grade and he treated it rather seriously and matter-of-factly. Prior to this, I hadn't given it much thought and was thereby surprised about the facts of life, particularly with the opposite sex. This was all reinforced a couple of years later when I was in Junior High School in Chicago. We were bused to the school on a Saturday morning, where the boys and girls were separated and listened to lectures on sex and watched an educational film. Interestingly, before the movie, the boys and girls joked around on the bus and sat together. However, on the trip home, the boys sat on one side of the bus, and the girls on the other; not a word was spoken by anyone. I presume the session had the desired effect the school administrators were looking for.
Following the class, our P.E. teachers would also provide some talks and film strips on sex education. I suspect the films were shown to the GI's in WW2 as they looked rather old and warned of the dangers of Syphilis and Gonorrhea. Afterwards, we all started to watch our scalps to make sure clumps of hair wouldn't fall out. It was also at this age when young men start wearing jock straps in gym class. There was an instance where a new kid came to our school and joined our class. In addition to the jock strap, his mother insisted he wear a condom. This really puzzled us. We all knew what the condom was for but were at a loss as to why she insisted on him wearing it in gym. Nobody sat next to him while we were changing.
During high school I played football and would naturally get quite dirty and sweaty. We all took showers afterwards and nobody thought twice about it. One of my teammates eventually became the Athletic Director at the school. When I went back to visit him years later, he gave me a tour of the old locker room where I noticed the shower room was shrunk in half. When I asked him about it, he told me nobody takes showers after a game or practice anymore as the kids have become rather "Homophobic." I just rolled my eyes and said, "Idiots."
Despite the absence of the active sexual climate in the media back then, we all got the message, be it from our parents, our school, or amongst ourselves, but I'm not sure it is like that anymore. I know of companies today where managers have to counsel young employees about their sex lives. The biggest danger seems to be they are misinformed about what they are doing, and are incredibly naive about birth control and social diseases. It seems odd a manager has to discuss such affairs with a worker but it is inevitable as many moms and dads have abdicated their parental duties in this regard. I suspect the same is true in the military where sergeants have to give advice, such as, "If you don't know what you're doing, keep it zipped."
Today we may be more sexually active in the media, but our young people appear to be ignorant of the basics when it comes to sex education, just the antithesis of my day. Now there are more sexually transmitted diseases, and we all want to be at the top of our game in sexual performance, at least that is what television tells us. I'm not sure which generation is more correctly "adjusted" to sex, but I sure loved that "Pussy Galore" gag.
First published: August 10, 2012
Keep the Faith!
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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 40 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com
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I cleaned out my e-mail address book recently. I equate this task to 
The following is an excerpt from my book, "MORPHING INTO THE REAL WORLD - A Handbook for Entering the Work Force" which is a survival guide for young people as they transition into adult life. The book offers considerable advice regarding how to manage our personal and professional lives. As a part of this, I found it necessary to describe the four types of personalities commonly found in the work place.
As a kid, I had an impressive collection of comic books, but as you grow older mothers have a tendency to clean out closets and dispose of such debris. Although I was able to save my baseball cards, my comic book collection was sacrificed to the garbage man. It was a pity too as my collection would probably be worth a small fortune today, but such is life. As a youngster, I was more of a fan of DC Comics as opposed to Marvel, but they were all enjoyable in their own way. I tended to gravitate to Superman along with the various manifestations, e.g., Action Comics, Superboy, Jimmy Olsen, Justice League of America, etc. 
I played High School football from 1968-1971 in a little town in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. Our team, the Wyoming Cowboys, had a winning tradition for as long as I can remember. We won numerous championships over the years and were always considered a contender even against much larger schools. In 1962, we had a team who not only went undefeated, but didn't allow a single point to be scored by their opponents, racking up a record of 446-0 points. Baseball, basketball, and track were all well represented, but football was king, not just then but now as well. This year, the team went 10-0 to win the league championship and play in the Ohio state playoffs.
Isn't it amazing the amount of paperwork required just to live on this planet? There are a variety of certificates you need, such as birth, wedding, and occupational. Even after you pass away, the paper mill continues to churn out death certificates on your behalf. Then there are bank statements, bills, membership information and notices from all of the institutions you belong to. Let's not forget deeds, mortgages, warranties, titles, contracts, agreements, and permits for everything from fishing and hunting to operating automobiles and machinery, not to mention firearms if you are so inclined. My insurance and medical paperwork alone probably represents a small Redwood. Then there are, of course, the countless applications you must complete for a variety of purposes.
I do not believe there are too many things more aggravating than misplacing something of value, be it keys, jewelry, a wallet or whatever. It's maddening. When you first become aware something is missing, you initially believe you know its location which, of course, you do not. Terror sets in when you realize it is not there. Your disposition goes from calm concern to desperate panic in a few scant seconds depending on the value of the object and where you believe you lost it, such as in a public venue like a restaurant. In addition to the object of your concern, you also lose your personality in the process.
There is a general consensus today that there is a complete breakdown in corporate loyalty, that employees no longer maintain allegiances to their companies or their bosses. Years ago people joined companies usually for life. Workers figured if they worked hard enough and kept their noses clean, the company would take care of them. This is no longer the case. Due to the corporate changes implemented over the last thirty years to remain competitive in a world economy, workers now typically live in a state of paranoia and think short-term employment as opposed to long-term, thus affecting their perspective on loyalty.
To most Americans, it is unsettling to watch historical statues toppled and the names of our forefathers besmirched. We used to hold these people in reverential awe, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Andrew Jackson. We certainly knew they weren't perfect, but their accomplishments in the birth of our nation greatly overshadowed their flaws. Even the southern soldiers during the Civil War were held in high regard afterwards by both sides for the bloody lesson the country had to learn the hard way. Time eventually healed the nation.
As I have been involved with a variety of nonprofit organizations over the years, I am often saddled with the task of producing the group's newsletter. Maybe it's because I know how to string a few words together and have worked with computers for more years than I care to remember. Nonetheless, I have probably produced over a thousand newsletters over the years for management groups, technology associations, homeowner groups, and fraternal organizations. Because of this, I like to believe I have learned a thing or two over the years about these publications, the first being they should never be taken for granted. Too often I see newsletters prepared frivolously where the same verbiage is spewed out month after month thereby become very predictable and quite boring. I know of newsletters where the same copy is used year after year and nothing changes except the names of the club's officers. Surprisingly nobody notices. There is nothing wrong with devising a standard format, which readers tend to adapt to, but if there is no "news" in the newsletter, in all likelihood it will only be used to line the bottom of a birdcage. However, if they are meaningful, not only will they be read, they'll also be kept for future reference.
Something I find interesting in our society is our predisposition for being rude and offensive. About a year ago I saw a high school graduation ceremony at a football field where the parents were outright obnoxious. Instead of quietly sitting in the stands and offering polite applause at appropriate moments, it was a ruckus affair where parents pushed and shoved, shouted and whistled at their kids, some even stepped over the lines and on to the field reserved for the students so they could take a picture of their offspring, something they could have done afterwards. When they were asked by the police to step off the field and go back to their seats in the stands, they ignored them and even told them to mind their own business. It was quite ugly. So much so, this year the high school sent forms to the parents stipulating the decorum they must follow. Further, the forms had to be signed by the parents and if they violated the agreement, the student's diploma would not be presented that day. I found this a bit mind boggling. Usually, it is the students that are asked to behave properly, not the parents, but I guess the times have changed.