My friend and I were talking about politics....yes we actually sit around talking about world issues more often than say "the cute shoes" we saw at the mall...Both of us being mothers, we have admitted that we have been to blind about our enviroment. Currently, as a single mom, no child support, attending school part-time so I can work enough hours to make sure the bills are paid, I am considered to be at poverty level. At poverty level, my son has a greater risk of abusing drugs, having unprotected sex and maybe not even living long enough to celebrate his 20th birthday...that is the reality of this world. As most mothers do, we work and attend school or work 2 jobs to support her family. Before I go further, I would like for all the men who are doing their part as a father to be proud of yourself because not many men own up to their fatherly duties. Knowing that what I do and how I do things will affect my sons future behavior and life in general I decided to write all the things I needed to change about myself..I have realized I have lived such a selfish life. How I live my life not only affects my son but the other children around me. I can be a great influence that gives them hope that they could indeed become something greater than the people around them or what is expected of them. I’m 28years old and sad to say I have had many friends that abused drugs or sold them. When I ask why they do it most of the time their answer is "this is all I know." Why? I know I’m not someone big and influential but we can make a difference. Even if we influence just one child at a time. Anywhere you go we see all forms of hate which I believe is the underlying cause of all violence. Tucson already has 20 homicides and its not even April yet! One of those homicides was a 15 year old child of my friends good friend. He never did anything wrong just was at the wrong place at the wrong time and the shooter probably doesn’t even know that HIS driveby shooting accidently hit a child. Well first of all accident or not, "Thou Shall Not Commit MURDER" is one of the Ten Commandments the last time I checked. When did we teach our children to murder with no guilt? Why did these people grow up thinking thats all they can be? It’s not their fault that people before them expected so little of them. Instead of sitting around talking about how FuKKed up this world is, if we individually, without racial, gender, and gay/lesbian descrimination and focus on what we can do to change our future we would have more of a fighting chance of change. The child we teach not to hate MIGHT think before he pulls the trigger, he/she MAY BE be strong enough to say no to drugs and MAY BE wait to have sex or use protection because this child has been taught that he should respect others and himself, also to love his neighbor as you would love yourself...and to me "MAY BE" and "MIGHT" is better than leaving things the way it is and it will only get worse. Humans are naturally selfish and always taking the routes to faster results however, I remember my grandmother once saying, and pretty sure most people have heard, "that the greatest rewards in life are given to who are patient enough to work and wait for it." Think about why this is so true.....1...2...3...ok If we didn’t feel sad how would we know what happy is? If we didn’t make mistakes how would we learn to make better choices? Every descision we make no matter how small affects our childrens and our future. If we all take the hard road than the tempting easy fast results to meaningless cash rewards that may not be there later on or end up in trouble with the law, we can all better ourselves and give our children a better chance at life so they to can become adults that make choices to better the future of their children.
The greatest pleasures in life cannot be bought and I feel sorry for all the people who think it can. Yes money does make the world go round as we can see in the news about our economy...but money does not make us who we are. Our past, color, gender and sexual orientation does not make us who we are. We are who we are individually...and HOW we live our life, HOW we make choices, HOW we cope with difficult situations, WHAT we teach our children, and HOW we make a difference and HOW we can contribute to this world is who we really are. And everyone can agree with me that when we do something nice for others out of the goodness of our hearts no matter how little you feel that it is, we feel that euphoric sensation through out your body only because we know we have brought joy to others. Everyone that knows me says I got the "Mother Theresa" syndrome...lol...no matter how many people screw me over fiancially or emotionally I’m still ready to lend a helping hand to anyone who asks. Honestly, I’m not gonna lie...yes the person in need was happy but I do it because it gives me the greatest high to see that lil’ol me can make a difference. We need more people to spread love and fight with love instead of hate. Anything that makes us feel good is so addictive... so lets all get ADDICTED to loving others and at helping each other because what comes around goes around...lets make love go around and around in a neverending circle=)
P.S There are so many great leaders of peace, here are quotes from one of my favorite peace activist Bob Marley.
"The people that are trying to make the world worse never take a day off, why should I? Light up the darkness."
"Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding rough the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality . Wake Up and Live!"
"Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold..."
"I don’t have prejudice against myself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side nor the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white."
"At poverty level, my son has a greater risk of abusing drugs, having unprotected sex and maybe not even living long enough to celebrate his 20th birthday..."
Money has nothing to do with this, it has to do with how you are raised. I was raised in a very poor home, and I grew up to do none of these things. I didn't even have even one parent to teach me. But I had my grandmother who taught me that the most humble of people, are generally the poorest, most unfortunate. Don't deem your son to having a poor life just because of the lack of money. Never give up telling him what is right, no matter how annoyed he gets, how much you may think he is not listening.
My understanding was that she was referring to the statistical likelihood, which is an accurate statement. I took it to mean that she has more to worry about because of risk factors associated with her income level and marital status. It's great that you beat the odds, but anecdotal variances don't change the fact that living in poverty increases the statistical likelihood of all kinds of negative outcomes.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman