OUTSIDE INTERESTS

When I was a young boy, my father gave me a list of do’s and don’ts, things he never wanted to catch me doing. Dad wasn’t a tyrant who would beat me within an inch of my life if I disobeyed him. He never threatened me; he just told me “Don’t let me catch you doing this.” He never told me why, and I never asked. I must admit, there was something about him that told me I had better do as he said, but as a kid I had no idea what it was. I also must admit that I was tempted by my peers to test him, but something told me not to. Later in life, when I had a son of my own, I thought about this mystical power he had held over me, and wondered why I was so afraid to challenge him. Was it fear? I thought. No, it wasn’t fear I reasoned, it was just respect. Then as I got older I thought, “Why should I challenge him? The things he told me not to do were not that important. If he felt those things were bad for me that was good enough for me.” He didn’t have to be important for me to respect him. He was my dad and that was reason enough.

I did respect my dad for many things. He never became rich or famous, nor was he the president of anything. When he died, he left his bills paid, and his reputation intact. He always worked hard, mostly out of necessity to feed and clothe his large family. He treated his family as if they were the greatest things that had ever been bestowed on him, and when you break it all down, he was right. He never had anything happen to him that made him want to toot his own horn, but he was quick to talk about the successes of his kids.

I think of the young man down south, a while back, who threatened to kill his family and shoot up his school. I think about it, and wonder what it was that made him rebel like that? From all that I read about the case, his parents were good people, and it was something in society that steered him so wrong. What a travesty when outside influences rob us of our children. When you try your best, but your best isn’t good enough to overcome the scourges of society. Unlike those who lose a child to an accident, his parents will suffer every day for the rest of their lives when, most likely, it wasn’t them that let the boy down—it was the world he lived in.

We should be ashamed of the things that exist in this country under the guise of personal freedom. Selfish, mean people who want to profit with no regard for anybody but themselves; they care little about your son or daughter. They will introduce them to drugs, pornography and prostitution. They will take the life you created and ruin it; and when they are done with him or her, they will find someone else to ruin. All it takes is one tiny crack, in the armor of your kid’s defenses, for them to sneak into their underdeveloped minds and make an honor student into a killer. A kid, who could have grown up to find a cure for cancer, will now rot away in prison.  It’s done every day of the year, and more and more. We live in constant fear of what our kids are being introduced to, that’s beyond our ability to keep them from getting involved in.