Hold on, I’m going to be judgmental.
I heard an ad on internet radio for a well-known company that sells fiber supplements.

But wait for it — that company now has fiber gummies for kids “because they don’t get enough fiber!” Accompanying the ad were happy children asking/singing for their gummies, just as they might for a treat.

Ah, there are signs everywhere of how dysfunctional we are as a people. What happened to “an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Is it just a dietary problem?

Or, is this part of prepping kids as future consumers to accept gummies with antidepressants when they are anxious as teenagers? Medicating folks is not new. I recall learning (from a medical person) how antihistamines were used in nursing homes to make folks sleepy.

We hear from multiple sources about all the problems in our society, always accompanied with a solution, provided by a governmental agency or a grant-funded business.

I am not surprised since all the social changes we have seen since the 1960s are insidious, invidious, (seemingly) innocuous, ignorance-reliant, and insulting to any disagreement.

For example, in the 1990s we heard that “all students leaving high school have a right to college.” How has that “all” worked out for our students, their families and our society? Now the fad, trend, or sudden realization that we need plumbers, electricians, HVAC folks is felt throughout our region, and also nationally.

As I see a general malaise, I know it is not one thing, law, or authority figure. I do see a general understanding across society that “something is wrong.” Before we are all required to eat “soylent green” gummies, look at yourself, then your family, and figure out what you can do to start the pendulum swinging back. Perhaps it will be a weekly sit-down dinner, with at least three veggies of which a child must at least choose one, no cellphones, and actual conversations.

I fear for the mute generation. Will they receive brain chips to be slaves for the techies? That possibility was planted in my head in the 1990s by a superintendent discussing the future and that portion of our population considered uneducable.

Any science fiction of yesterday or today is unfolding before our eyes. Is that why our young ones so like dystopian novels, as it reflects what they see?

Marguerite Willis lives in Charlemont.