Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
Again there are MUCH older guys than you here Muse.
I disagree with much of what you said about young people. It is the young guys that you feel are not developed enough to drive these "loaded death machines" that operate some of the most destructive and dangerous equipment in the world since they are the ones usually tasked with defending our freedoms. How is it even remotely possible that an 18 year old can operate a massively complex weapons system but is not ready to drive a car. I know that I am going back a ways but during Vietnam the average age of helicopter crews was 21 years old. This of course means that many were well under 20.
I know older and more "mature" guys that can't drive their Buicks worth crap and 18 year olds that can out drive me so like anything else there are good and bad in any group. To lump them all together is just not realistic nor fair. Anybody driving any car can become a death machine it is not restricted to the young.
And please no "kids these days" responses since our parents said the same thing about us and theirs about them and so on to the beginning of human kind.
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Points taken, T, and agreed with. I may have been unclear, or you may have misunderstood my point of view. My issue is not whether or not folks at the age of 17 and 18 have the TECHNICAL skills (hand/eye coordination, reflexes, understanding of physical forces, etc.) to drive, whether it's on a country road or race track. That's not my point at all. My point is that, in my vast experience working with young people, MANY have a very unrealistic view of their own indestructibility and many do not consider the effect of their actions on others around them; their "sphere" is a lot smaller than it will be as they mature and begin to see larger and larger pictures of life. It's not a slam... it's just part of the maturation process.
The examples you site above illustrate your point well, but have very little to do with my point. Military personnel and heavy machine operators are operating, usually, under very strict guidelines, oversight by superiors (much more so than the odd traffic cop on the highway for civilians) and have had a great deal of training. None of that can be said for a 17 year old on public highways in his first car.
I agree.. it's definitely not a "kids these days" issue... it's just kids since time immemorial. The self vs. others view hasn't progressed as far is it will later in life to them, that's all.
I wasn't referring to the person behind the wheel as a "death machine," I was referring to the machine itself.. the car. We ALL drive machines capable of killing us and others in an instant. It is up to us to treat them as such, respect their awesome abilities both positive and intensely negative, and be ever mindful of our actions. Again, that is increasingly the province of maturity.
I like you, man... this is the first time I think we've disagreed. I feel bad. I hope some of what I said makes some sense.
Oh... you and I are two years apart. I'll let you guess which way!
Best to you,
Barry