This commentary is by Bob Stannard of Manchester, an author, musician and former state legislator and lobbyist.
This past week we learned that former GOP presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney will not seek reelection. As much as I rarely agree with Romney, I did respect the fact that he showed some spine when he voted to convict former President Donald Trump. He also trashed the sad excuse for a person, Rep. George Santos, saying, “You don’t belong here.”
His public reason for retiring is that he’s 76 years old and it’s time for the younger generation to step up. I disagree that he’s too old. He’s in good shape and a bright guy; however, I couldn’t agree more that it’s time for the kids to step up and take over. The question is: Are they ready?
On some level, I have great faith in the twentysomethings coming up behind us. I see kids like David Hogg, who survived the shootings at the Stoneman Douglas High School and has moved on to create a nationwide, anti-gun activist group.
Greta Thunberg, now at the ripe old age of 20, has become internationally known as one who publicly challenges world leaders to take immediate action on climate change. The big oil companies are terrified of her. She has an audience of young people who hopefully will change the world.
As much as these kids allow me to think that there’s hope for the future of the human race, my hopes are shattered when I read about people like Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame. You might remember Bankman-Fried. He’s the 31-year old-investor, entrepreneur and CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency company. At one point this kid was worth $26 billion! Where is he now? Due to alleged witness tampering, Bankman-Fried is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center until his criminal trial begins in October. Imagine being worth $26 billion at the age of 31 and falling from there to bankruptcy and a jail cell.
His young co-chief executive of FTX, Ryan Salame, pleaded guilty last week and presumably is flipping on his incarcerated boss. Salame had to give up $1.55 billion in assets. He’s a young guy who made a lot of money very quickly. Life changes at warp speed for some people.
Today we learned of a murder in Washington state: “A man who was trying to slow traffic in his neighborhood because deer were crossing the street was shot and killed by another man who was driving past, authorities in western Washington state said.
“Dan Spaeth of Snohomish, Wash., was outside his home with his wife on the evening of Sept. 7, trying to alert passing cars to deer that were crossing the road, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Det. Kendra Conley wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in court. He was shot once by a man driving by, who later told authorities that seeing Spaeth and his wife in the street made him afraid and he fired the shot to scare the couple, according to the affidavit.”
The shooter was 22 years old.
I’ve had things that have frightened me over my 72 years of residing on this planet, but I don’t believe that I would ever be afraid of a man stopping traffic to keep people from running into a herd of deer. I have seen farmers in Vermont stop traffic when their cows were crossing the road and that farmer didn’t scare me enough for me to want to shoot him.
We could toss in Kyle Rittenhouse, who at the age of 17 was able to purchase a gun and have his mother drive him across state lines so that he could participate against a protest. He shot and killed three men, claiming it was self-defense. He was acquitted of these murders and is now the darling of the radical right-wing gun folks.
From the dawn of man, we have been confronted with good versus evil. As one generation ages, another new generation is racing up to replace the older generations. It’s the responsibility of the older generation to teach their children right from wrong and raise them to be good citizens. It could be argued that my generation has both failed miserably and been quite successful.
We have kids who are smart, organized, committed and dedicated to our ideals of making the world a better place. Then we have the other kids — kids who have no qualms about selling fentanyl-laced drugs to unsuspecting kids. Kids who shoot a man because they are frightened. Kids who shoot unarmed men supposedly in self-defense. We have too many kids who, perhaps understandably, feel that they have no future.
So how do we move the ball forward? We need to work harder to ensure that the kids are nurtured and raised in a way that allows them to be as good as, or better than, we were. Kids might spend less time on their screens playing hideous games like “Aliens vs. Predator” or “Call of Duty” and find their way to becoming caring, empathetic participants in our society.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed. How about you?
