Declining opinion of humanity

There are many problems with growing older. To pick a depressing one at random, consider the phenomenon where the older, presumably wiser population keeps dying off and getting replaced by shiny new fools. If you live long enough, you find yourself totally surrounded by fools. Then you die.

This notion makes me increasingly sensitive to fool sightings. For instance, I've noticed the following flavor of fool on multiple occasions while driving. In every case I have the right-of-way. But since I, from time to time, am able to predict the whimsical impulses of bad drivers, I already have my foot hovering over the brake just as the guy turns left (for example) across my path. It is at precisely this moment that I can see the part of the guy's car that I would have plowed into if I hadn't just read his damn fool mind, and it's already got a huge dent there. How depressing is that? To summarize: the guy pulled that stupid stunt before, got hit, and didn't learn from it!

And to think, his vote counts the same as mine. That is, until he finally tries that move in front of a dump truck, after which he's only qualified to vote in New York, Florida, and Chicago.

The younger the subject, the greater the potential for foolish behavior. Take this Utah pseudo-Scout who was in the news last week. While nobody will say just how this eleven-year-old got lost, it is apparent that the kid wandered away from camp on his own initiative. He just up and left. Then to compound things, instead of trying to be found, the kid played escape-and-evade for four days out of fear of being "stolen" by "a stranger." I know that fourth-graders can be obtusely literal when they want to be, but after four days without food and water, one would think that even a fourth grader might consider contacting a stranger. Say what you will about kidnapers, but they typically provide at least a little food and water. Heck, Elizabeth Smart's kidnapers fed her for nine months. Now at least Elizabeth actually had abductors, whereas the lost boy only imagined them. But Elizabeth conceded that she could hear her searchers calling her name, and yet she did nothing.

What's Utah doing to their kids such that they don't want to be found?