PERRY: Sorry. We tried, but we ruined the planet and we’re giving it to you as a graduation gift

To my daughter, Isabella, and everyone graduating high school this week.

You’re welcome, and I’m sorry.

When I was leaving high school for college, President Jimmy Carter was trying to clean up a mess in the country that left Americans struggling with huge unemployment, ludicrous interest rates, a Middle East that was about to implode, and an oil crisis that threatened to doom the economy, the planet and maybe even our own species.

Those were dark days. So many of us checked out of engaging in a world that had spun out of control and was ripe for rebellion. Instead, we checked into a wild ride of drugs, debauchery and embarrassing fashion.

Well, not all of us. For the record, I rarely wore tube socks. There were a few of us who saw what was happening to the country at the hands of the oil companies, at the hands of corporate religions, at the hands of a “Moral Majority” that pushed hard to suppress the rights of women, minorities and gays.

We fought back. When the rumors that California’s kooky actor-turned-governor would run for president turned out to be true, we took to the streets and campuses to push back against him and his fellow mad men. We pushed back against a wave of political bullies who couldn’t fathom anything but a black-and-white world where one class of Americans ruled over another. Women like Congresswoman Pat Schroeder were scorned and humiliated. Blacks were accepted only as entertainers and religious martyrs. As hard as we pushed to allow the middle and underclass to get ahead, the ruling class pushed back harder.

So we made small, steady strides instead. Women crept into the boardrooms instead of barging in. Gays simply became part of the American lexicon, then marched in parades, then led them for the military. The lies and the stereotypes began to fade away like ancient Greek myths.

Rather than bully our way into American history, we snuck in, and a black man is now president. You’re welcome.

And now here you are standing in line at high school commencement, just like we did.  But rather than hand you the reigns of a community and a society on course for victory and greatness, we turn over a country wrought with trouble.

We didn’t learn our lesson with oil and the Middle East. We started wars there we can’t afford and can’t possibly finish. The players are arming themselves with nukes, nerve gas, and a never-ending supply of IEDs and suicide bombers. I’m sorry.

We didn’t learn our lesson with the environment. In fact, we may well have destroyed the planet with a global warming problem that Club Money denies exists and Club Ineffective can’t change. I’m sorry.

We created a health-care system that has extended the life of Americans, but we can no longer afford it. It’s a greedy monstrosity that will soon cost more than anything else in the country. I’m sorry.

My parent’s generation saw entire communities of elderly people starving to death, too old to work, too voiceless to make a difference. They enacted the Social Security system, allowing for all Americans to age safely and with dignity. But we stole most of my Social Security and all of yours. Now you must plan how you’ll survive when you’re too old to work and too powerless to do anything about it. I’m sorry.

In our zeal to buy more stuff cheaper that we just throw away to buy more, we’ve lost an army of jobs and created cruel slave colonies across the globe so we can buy dress shirts for $6 and remarkable DVD players for the price of a fast-food dinner. I’m sorry.

I’m not giving up yet, but it’s exhausting to fight a tidal wave of resistance that does not value education, believes creationism is science and that gay marriage is a threat to their own. I’m sorry.

But I taught you right from wrong and the Golden Rule. I taught you to stand your ground when everyone else gives up or gives in. I’m sorry to leave you with such a mess, but after getting to know how smart and savvy you and your friends are, I’m glad it’s you we’re going to depend on to set things right.

Reach editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com