My wife and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Switzerland back in 1996. It was a chance for us to take some much-needed R & R because we just finished a 7-month teaching stint in the cold gray land of Russia. On one of our vacation days, we decided to take the 2:00 p.m. train from Bern to Geneva to see some of the beauty of the Swiss countryside. As we sat on the train we tried our best to blend in with the Swiss people who were busy living their lives, coming and going to work, shopping, and picking kids up from local schools. After living in Russia for awhile we learned how to put on a very stoic European demeanor so we wouldn’t stick out.

At one stop a group of 4 American High School girls jumped on our train. They must have been on vacation with their parents and they happened to sit right across the aisle from us. For the next 15 minutes they giggled, laughed, talked loudly and mocked almost everything and everyone they saw. You could see the general disgust on the faces of the Swiss people as they watched these arrogant young girls carry on.

The foursome didn’t know my wife and I were also Americans and I think they assumed we couldn’t understand their prattling on in their whiny valley-girl English. They complained about the food, they criticized the fashions, and they acted like they owned the world. For the first time, I clearly saw what was meant by “ugly Americans.” These girls were spoiled and juvenile, and they probably had some very rich parents. It was the first time I wanted to apologize on behalf of all America.

When I read our headlines these days, it seems like our whole country, like these 4 girls, is turning spoiled and juvenile as well. Where have the adults gone? Now don’t get me wrong, I love our country, I really do. It just seems like the people who write the news and push their cultural agenda, are no better than those four teenage girls, if not worse. At least the girls had an excuse, they were only 13 and 14.

Let me show you what I mean. I have listed five popular news stories that expose our culture of adolescent mediocrity. We are confident and arrogant about nothing. We celebrate things that shouldn’t be celebrated. We are incredibly impressed with ourselves..

(1) Californian lady who joined Hungary’s Olympic team can’t even ski, but still gets to compete. This is embarrassing.
https://sports.yahoo.com/bad-american-skier-games-system-make-olympics-070235305.html

(2) Overweight lady gets spotlighted role on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and we are to be impressed. What happened to models who actually were once pretty? Oh yeah, I shouldn’t talk about them because they don’t want to be objectified even though they wear string bikinis and are now modeling nude. This is childish.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ashley-graham-embraces-cellulite-string-bikini-sis-swimsuit-edition-165641711.html

(3) Male Olympic skier didn’t win a medal, but he did get to kiss his boyfriend. Why is this courageous? Why is this newsworthy? Whatever happened to the Olympics being about athletes and not people trying to push their sexual agenda? This is sad.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/02/18/fans-celebrate-freestyle-skier-gus-kenworthy-and-boyfriend-sharing-televised-kiss/

(4) High School student becomes a leading voice for mocking the President and Congress on how they handle complicated policy. If I called out the President and called him stupid on national television as a High School student my dad would not congratulate me – – he would lock me up in my room until I learned respect. What High School student really understands the pressure of running a country? Such arrogance!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-florida-shooting-survivors-lash-out-20180218-story.html

(5) A President who name calls other people via Twitter. Wow, it sounds like I am contradicting myself, by why does the President believe he needs to stoop so low and get involved in silly Twitter wars? I can’t imagine Lincoln, Washington, Churchill or Kennedy wallowing in the mud of our adolescent media fads. I know President Trump is trying to defend himself because the media slants everything, but I wish he wouldn’t give them so much fuel for their fire.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/twitter-defends-oprah-trumps-insecure-insult-121435811.html

(6) Late night comics who believe they can mock the world and then make cogent comments about very serious issues. I hate the arrogance displayed by late-night comics who always think they are the smartest people in the country. No humility…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/kimmel-gun-control-florida-1.4540599

Our country now exalts the average as special, and the silly as serious. We have no respect for the adult who actually thinks before they speak. Where are the true experts in anything that doesn’t include entertainment and sports? We have become a nation of adolescents.

In the 1982 movie The Scarlet Pimpernel, the French antagonist Chauvelin is bragging about how France has gotten rid of the Royal Family and the ruling aristocracy – – he is proud that the common peasant is going to take over the land. He says, “We shall execute our king instead, sir, and exalt our tailors.” And the Scarlet Pimpernel responds by saying, “More’s the pity. Then your tailors will rule the land, and no one will make the clothes. So much for French fashion, and French politics.”

It seems instead of having the peasant rule our country, teenagers and fools now run everything. We have kicked out the adults and let the spoiled juveniles rule. Welcome to modern day America, 2018. “More’s the pity!”