Reflecrion paper - Essay Example

Our children are living in completely different world in which societal boundaries are being discussed on an everyday basis in different media channels such as radio, television and the internet. The existence of a gay community is something that has been around for hundreds of years. In the past it was a taboo subject and people rarely revealed their true identity to the straight community to avoid discrimination. The gay community has gotten a lot rights, justifiably so from our governmental entities, to protect their right to express their sexuality without been harass by others.

Despite these changes the Larry King case is an absolute tragedy that reflects that the new reality of the gay movement in America. In the past teenagers were hesitant to come out of the closet and reveal their feelings until there were matured enough to deal with society’s pressures and discriminatory forces against. At the earlier they came was late in high school or early in college. This has drastically changed due to exposure and perception of social acceptance of gays by television programming that has gay characters such as Ellen, Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty (Setoodeh, 2008).

There is nothing wrong with any of these programs, but a ten year old may fall into the erroneous assumption that being openly gay at such age is a safe move when in reality can place a child in danger. Young Larry King was gunned down in classroom by another 14 year old called Brandon Mclnerney. Larry was going through some tough times such as being separated by social services from his parents due to allegations from Larry that his dad was abusing him. He was openly gay since the age of 10, but now his behavior was more erratic and even started dressing up as girl in school.

The school had their hands tight up and could not do anything about the cross dressing due to hate-crime laws against gender discrimination. Larry was taunting Brandon in public because he liked him, but Brandon felt embarrassed and harassed Larry romantic motives. The situation got out of control and ended up in the tragic death of child. The second story studied Where old is still gold, not cold by David Lavoie deals with society’s perception of the elderly in a foreign nation. In this story a man travels to Malaysia and realizes after a diving class that in this part the hemisphere the fact that he is a senior citizen of 64 years old is seen by society as a reason to show greater respect to him.

The elderly are seen as holders of knowledge and wisdom. The author of the story through his experience in Malaysia learned that in the occident there is greater respect for people as they age. This is much different than the general attitude of American society which visualizes the elderly as extra baggage and at times they are subject to discrimination in societal setting such as the workplace or other activities. This story shows that American society is not as socially advanced as we think we are.

We can learn a lot from the Malaysian culture. In America family values are at an all time low. In the past there was greater unity between siblings and their parents. American people teach their children to be independent and they start working at very young age. The parents themselves are the ones that want their out of their homes once they reach the age of 18. Americans have to reconsider their relationship between parents and siblings. We are currently in an economic path which will destroy the country nation pension system, social security.

This means that in the future the elderly will have greater dependence on their kids or they are going to have to keep working into their 70s. Some will be able too, other will be too sick for the task. American society has to build greater roots and bonds so that once the children become older they will appreciate their parents more, which will consequently help the younger generation have greater respect for the elderly social class as a whole. Younger people should take advantage of the wisdom our elderly has to offer, similarly to what the Malaysian society does.

ReferencesLavoie, D. (2007). Where old is still gold, not cold. New Straits Times (Malaysia).Setoodeh, K. (2008). Young, Gay, and Murdered. Newsweek.