Why Did They Lie?

[lallis_folly]

I graduated from high school in 1985 with the promise that the world was mine to have and to hold, that I could do anything I wanted, be anything I wanted. Everyone from the valedictorian to the principal assured me that it was so. And I believed them. How not? They were wise and knowing. They would have told me if I had any cares to look forward to.

This is not the world they promised.

The world they promised was shiny and happy. There was a chicken in every pot. If I wanted to be a novelist, or a musician, or a housewife, or President, that's what I could be. There wasn't debt and anger and divorce and depression in my future. Everything would be just fine, they said.

This is not the world they promised.

I grew up watching Star Trek. In that gorgeous future, there was no disease, no hunger, no crime, no terrorists. There wasn't even money because they didn't need it anymore.

This is not the world they promised.

All the promises were broken. There is debt. There is anger. There is unhappiness. There is divorce. There is depression. And to come? More of the same.

Why did they lie?

Comments

[lunza.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, why did you believe them?

[lallis-folly.livejournal.com]

Because I was 17 and taught to believe what my elders told me.

[carocrow.livejournal.com]

Maybe they didn't lie. Maybe they were hoping for that, too.