its not a rant when its true, it amazes me what this generation does not know, oh sure they are up to date on computers and such, but just the basics, gee give me a break, i live in the country i hired the boy down the street, big kid 16 yrs old, well i was planting some apple trees, marked where i wanted them planted left and went to town , when i came back he had planted a couple,, should of planted 20 or more, then i watched him try to dig a hole, he did not know to put his foot on the shovel to drive it into the ground, i dont blame him, i blame his dad for not teaching him, maybe he didnt want to learn and sometimes it would be easier just to do it yourself then fight with them but lessons in life , respect, honor are not easy, some times you have to make them learn weather they want to or not.
I think the problem today is we all have it too easy. My dad is basically self taught in everything he knows how to do. He told me once that his dad would take on odd jobs for extra money and would take dad along because dad knew what to do. Stuff like installing a water hear and things like that. Grandpa knew a lot of things but not stuff like that I guess. I'm not exactly sure what the situation was there as grandpa died when I was 10. I ask dad how he learned all of this stuff and he just said "you would be surprized at what you can do when you have to."
We had a gentleman living locally here who survived the Bataan death march. He just died here last year. Up until his death he would tour around the country and speak on his experience. My one regret is never getting to hear him speak.