Everyone seems to have answers to why violence and drugs are taking a grip on our children.

Tuesday, August 24, 1999

Everyone seems to have answers to why violence and drugs are taking a grip on our children.

I don’t.

I catch faint hints here and there of what may be behind it all.

Most often the blame goes to schools, media or parenting. I tend to think that it is beyond all of this and if I may be so vague as to say it is the lifestyle of America.

You may be thinking this is a cop-out but bear with me.

Reading through LIFE Magazine, I came across an advertisement for the latest minivan, the one vehicle geared toward family. The mini van pictured so deep in the mountains where no vehicle should be is a slick machine. The latest in ergonomics and design.

The ad reads, "The Peacekeeper" and another heading reads, "Behold the Hypnotic Power of the Glowing Screen."

That’s right. It has a TV built into it with a VCR. The ad claims that this device will put an end to the family feuds on family road trips so mom and dad can sit back and worry about more important things than their kids. After all, stocks went down and the Vikings did not play so great.

There is no time to threaten the children that dad will turn the vehicle around and drive home if they can not behave. Mom won’t have to ask the kids to look out the window and enjoy the view of the "purple mountain majesty" or "amber waves of grain." Instead, the kids will be within the "Hypnotic Power of the Glowing Screen."

What a relief.

Simply plug in a movie for the kids and drive from A to B with as little disturbance from your children as possible. (Just like at home!) A therapist would certainly find this an asset to today’s overworked, tired parents. What a tough life we parents have, raising children in this corrupt world.

Thinking back on the family road trip, is it not about time to share with your family? I actually thought that is what my parents were trying to do, make family time. Little did I know my parents were so interested in Disneyland or camping at the lake.

Seriously, this ad shows American lifestyle today versus yesterday.

Yesterday, I was to look out the window and enjoy the view. I was engaged in conversation with my brothers and sister traveling down the highway. I was thrilled to sing in the van and loved watching a storm approach us as we headed straight into it. I was scared when Dad actually pulled over to straighten us out. I especially enjoyed traveling at night listening to the van move down the road, knowing that my parents would take me where we were going in the safest possible way. Taking in the spectacular views of prairie, forest, mountains, storms, rivers, lakes, rainbows and lightening. There is no movie that will ever give this experience, traveling with family.

Today, have mercy on parents that read the ad, buy the van, drop their kids in the back and plug them into yet another monitor. The parents drop-out, the children tune-in and society falls apart.

Is TV in mini vans the reason behind the corruption of today’s youth? Hardly.

Is this mentality possibly a part of the corruption, the direction American lifestyle is going? I think so. I am beginning to wonder if the American Dream as we know it needs to come to an end or find another dream besides pleasure and fulfilling selfish desires.

Nathan Howard’s column appears every other Tuesday