These are unique times. We have instant access to worldwide news.. we have exposure to the worst of other cultures, and have been called upon to help those half a world away.. we have the weight of the world, literally, upon our individual shoulders, and this is a situation a normal adult would find difficult to absorb, let alone our children.
Thus, there are statistics which show that just under half of the British population is clinically depressed and is being medicated for it, and another half of those left are also suffering depression, but go undiagnosed.
Even our children are affected, to the point they too are medicated for a variety of behavioral disorders and depression. What they see on television is appalling, compared with that which was shown children half a century ago. That which they endure at school, is frankly frightening, with teachers having been stripped of all authority, and thus, can maintain no respect.
Now, we find that which has long been suspected, and likely has been a longstanding problem, wherein pharmaceutical companies who produce these medications to combat our depression, are falsifying their reports and clinical findings, to rush yet another drug into the public bloodstream.
That GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) attempted to show that Seroxat, a new anti-depressant, worked for depressed children despite failed clinical trials.
And that GSK-employed ghostwriters influenced 'independent' academics.
This leaves us in a position wherein we can no longer trust our family physicians, for they take the drug companies at their word, and will not hesitate to prescribe this new 'wonder' drug, in the hope it will have effecatious results on our suffering kids..
Ahh we have come a long way. An advertisment this morning showed a new film, a cartoon for children, of the old classic 'Charlottes Web'. This means that instead of sitting on Mom or Dad's knee, working through the text of the novel, learning to read while developing an imagination, we parents can now sit the kids in front of the box and ignore them while they absorb pre-concieved pictures of the characters, in a necissarily edited script..
Perhaps the answer is for parents to unplug the box. To take time to share with their children that which their parents shared with them.. time.
We might see a drop in adolescent depression, if children had a relationship with their parents wherein they knew they had someone who actually cared, who would actually listen.
This is the time of unfit parents, raising children who will follow in their footsteps and perhaps take it to yet another level of isolation between parents and children, as technology improves.
We are T.S.Elliot's 'Straw Men'.. and our children will do nothing more than continue with that which we have taught them.
Gods help us all.

A new problem for Britain. It has been reported that Muslim youth is far more likely to be swayed by rhetoric from Islamic fundamentalists, and with over 1.5 million Muslims scattered throughout the country, there is a widening gap between what's percieved to be two different cultures.
13% of British Muslims support al Q'aeda, according to latest figures.. 27% would prefer they be dealt with according to Shar'ia Law, than the British Judiciary..
It was, at one time, something to be proud of, to be British. Not British-Muslim, or British-Christian, but merely 'British'. Not so these days.
We will take issue with this problem as time goes on, but unless there is a tie that binds which suddenly appears, this country is on a path towards religious intollerance unseen for centuries.