^_ CHRIS HALLIGAN Students should value money Have you ever done anything that you knew you weren’t supposed to do, something that if your parents were to find out, you probably would be tossed out on your bum? College funds, if your parents pay for your education, would dry out. Christmas presents no longer would be abundant. Birthday checks no longer would be planned income for the semester. Well, after four long years of at tendance at th i s fine un i versi ty, I tru 1 y pulled the perennial parental blunder. I tapped into my trust fund. Little did I know when I made that fateful call to the folks on Easter eve I would be receiving perhaps the longest, most in-depth talk to date on how my life has been nothing more than a materialistic excursion involv ing thoughtless purchasing, frivolous vacationing and gluttonous acquisi tions. My mother weaved an intricate tapestry of profanity and prophecy, leaving me with one very simple realization: I have been spoiled rotten ... by myself. But in taking this a step further, I realized something even more pro found: My generation, for the most part, has been extremely spoiled, too, as shown by the simple fact that people’s expectations progressively have risen through the years. Take this another step further, and we arc faced with an even more fright ening thought: What will our children expect of us? Of course, expectations rise for the simple reason that technology advances. When my grandfather was 22, he wasn’t attending college and living in a fraternity, all expenses paid. He was working in a grocery store, attempting to feed a family and still save a little something on the side. There was no need for a car be cause everything was within walking distance. Everything seemed to move at a much slower pace, and almost no one traveled to any place farther than 50 miles away. I think I remember Mom telling me that Grandpa didn’t own a car until he was 40. By the time my parents were teen agers, however, things had changed significantly. Raised with the ideals of the old days but with the benefits of modem technology, my parents were allowed restricted privileges to the luxuries of the time. While fashion able clothes were essential for climb Little did I know when l made, that fateful call ta the folks on Easter eve / would be reemiug, perhaps the loneest. mast in-depth talk ta date on hsm mx life. has been nothing more than a materi alistic excursion in volving thoughtless purchasing, frivolous vacationing gad gluttonous acquisi tions, ing the social ladder, the prices were still quite reasonable. “If they weren’t,” Mom said, “we simply didn’t buy them.” We’re talking about paying maybe S8 for a pair of Levi’s here. Use of the Family Chevrolet was restricted to a Saturday excursion to the beach or to the drive-in. Spend ing-money was scarce and usually consisted of an allowance of S4 or S5 a week. Meanwhile, Grandma and Grandpa thought they were spoiling those kids rotten. By the time we became teen-agers, as Mom again pointed out, all materi alistic hell broke loose. Suddenly, the expectation levels sky-rocketed. We not only expected to drive all the time when we were 16, we ex pected our own cars. For some of us, clothes suddenly became a fashion race for time. Forget $8 for a pair of Levi’s, some of us “had to have” the S80 Polos and thc$60Girbauds,mosi of which found themselves on the “c lothes-I -don * t-wear-any more” side of the closet within months. This was just the beginning. Mom pointed out our need to experience everything by age 22, our require ment that all electronic equipment had to be state of the art, our demand that allowances be raised to an un precedented $20 or $50 a week. If these needs weren’t met for whatever reason, it was cause for revolt I realized Mom was right, but I also realized that this wasn’tour fault. I think that perhaps the reason for our gluttony lies in the way we were raised. In other words, our parents spoiled our generation rotten, introducing to us all the goodies, while neglecting to teach us the value of a dollar. All I was taught was that a dollar wasn’t much until you had about 50 of ‘em. Where you spent those dollars and what you spent them on made no difference. Simply the act of spend ing was enough to create true elation. Our parents wasted so much time protecting us from the harsh realities of poverty that we ended up thinking of money as something similar to food — substance necessary to sur vive day-to-day. Exchanges of cur rency were equivalent in importance to getting at least six hours of sleep a night. We can’t totally blame them, though. They really were just trying to do the right thing. Parents arc so protective. However, the question remains: .. .... . _ . _ _« • Will WC DC SU gCUCIUU* iu UUI Will wc have the resources lo afford such extravagant lifestyles for our children? Will there ever again be a generation that will be able to be as indulgent as ours? Will there ever again be a genera tion that will be able to max out a $800 limit credit card in two hours in Chicago and feel absolutely no re morse whatsoever? Will there ever again be a generation of kids who will be able to be fashion models, posing and primping like they were made of money? Not a prayer! Vanity will die after my genera tion, and for one reason: Wc aren’t about to sacrifice our material goods for a bunch of ungrateful teeny-bop pers. I guess there is one lesson wc all can learn from my mother’s insight ful discussion: Learn to respect a dollar, because someday it may not be there. Instead, it will be in the hands of our children who will have broken us with their pubescent threats of family upheaval when wc attempt to teach them the true value of money. Hailigan is a junior Knglish major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. -EDITORIAL POLICY Staff editorials represent the offi cial policy of the Spring 1992 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem bers are: Jana Pedersen, editor; Alan Phelps, opinion page editor; Kara Wells, managing editor; Roger Price, wire editor; Wendy Navratil, copy desk chief; Brian Shellito, cartoon ist; Jeremy Fitzpatrick, senior re porter. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. According to policy set by the re gents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. 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