Between Napkins and Warriors: An Intergenerational Rant

Today, I ask for poetic license to express myself in the old-fashioned way — as my dear grandparents used to say: "This generation, my daughter... is rather disconcerting." I confess that, at times, I feel like a time traveler who inadvertently fell asleep in the arms of normality and awoke in the midst of sociocultural chaos.

I vividly remember my childhood and adolescence, when humor—even if acidic and sometimes inappropriate—was countered with the best weapon: intelligence. When someone crossed the line of good sense with an unfortunate joke, we responded with such a witty comment that the author of the malicious joke retreated into insignificance, often becoming the target of ridicule from his peers. It was a verbal duel of sharp minds—not a minefield of fragile susceptibilities.

Today, however, it seems to me that we inhabit a society of tissue paper. Or rather, of

A wet napkin: just a breath or a drop is enough to make everything fall apart. Contemporary hypersensitivity has reached proportions that, to me, border on surrealism.

I grew up watching cartoons that today, believe it or not, are classified as "violent" or "inappropriate." Those were the days of He-Man, She-Ra, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Popeye, Bugs Bunny—true animated operas of courage, justice, and, why not, poetic nonsense. These were characters who, despite the explosions, swords, and punches, taught us to face life with bravery, creativity, and, above all, honor.

Today, however, children entertain themselves with Peppa Pig, Galinha Pintadinha, O Show da Luna, Masha and the Bear, among other programs that, if they had existed in my childhood, would most likely have been ignored even by a television that was turned off. Don't misunderstand me—I'm not against playfulness, sweetness, or education. But something, at some point in the timeline, went awry.

How can we explain that, in the era of cartoons considered "aggressive," children were respectful, resilient, and knew how to distinguish fiction from reality, while today—amidst talking piglets and singing chickens—we see a growing generation that is increasingly unbalanced, intolerant, and sometimes dangerously aggressive?

It's not uncommon to see children yelling at their parents, slapping classmates, or displaying anger disproportionate to their age. It's as if Dora the Explorer, in the dead of night, is leading our children not to an enchanted map, but to the edge of an existential abyss.

I feel we urgently need to recapture the spirit of intergalactic warriors: a bit of Jaspion, Changeman, and even that shrewd look from The Mask might restore a minimum of sense of adventure, discipline, and—why not?—heroic morality to our new generations.

I don't know exactly when I fell asleep and woke up in such a... messed up world. I only know that, upon opening my eyes, I saw values turn to dust—and the napkins, oh my!

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