Protect Our Future

The current assault on our children is unprecedented. With grandmothers throwing their kids off of parking garage footpaths to mothers killing their children, stuffing them in a car trunk and going off to party, the goings on in America are unconscionable.

 When innocence is targeted in an effort to exact revenge or to remove an obstacle to allow for freedom of indiscretion, societal indignation is not only expected it is obligatory.   

As a people, community, country we cannot afford to be despondent with or dismissive of the proliferating reports we see in the news with respect to the safety and well being of our kids. Hanging our heads and sighing from the grievous report of a young person dying over a pair of shoes or something as seemingly innocuous as watching a mother defend, characterizing her daughter as being an "individual" and "artistic" for wanting to wear a salacious, provocative outfit for her yearbook picture is ridiculous.

Why have the words stupid, unethical, and immoral fallen from our lexicon?

Is everything worth justifying so that other’s indiscretions go unnoticed or un-judged? I mean, do we really want to turn everything in to a right of personal choice, allowing for an all out assault on common decency, robbing our children of a chance to mature enough to comprehend the plethora of depravities they are being bombarded with daily? What happen to maternal and paternal instinct to protect the children? Are we so rapacious and self-absorbed that we no longer have time to give our kids a fighting chance by fortifying them morally and ethically, enriching their lives with positive, steadfast examples of positive living.

Parents no longer care enough to monitor their kids to see what they are watching on TV or what they are perusing on the internet. Kids as early as elementary school are reciting words and acting out scenes filled with sexual connotations, violent overtones and misogynistic lyrics they have heard on the radio, seen on TV or ripped straight from the internet. Moreover, these kids are left to interpret these despicable visual and audio barrages on their juvenile minds and perceptions, leading them to believe that “right” is some abstract concept based on individual perception and that acceptable social norms and self discretion is something void of their responsibility or accountability.

Regardless of who you are or where you live you have the responsibility to ensure that your child is given guidance and love. Allowing a child to be liberally exposed to society’s iniquities is wrong. Guidance starts at home. Turn off the smut and indulge your kids in meaningful activities. Show them that you care by asking them what they are doing on the computer, who they are talking to at school, and what they are talking about with friends and acquaintances. And should your child see something, hear something or read something that has moral and ethical implications in society, discuss it with them. Tell them it is stupid, criminal, unethical or immoral if that is what it is. Let them know right and wrong do exist. Instill in them that wrong is not an arbitrary, arcane concept conceived by some phantom establishment, but a standard of living that shows deference to your fellow man and upholds the expectation and obligation of decency and civility as equal denizens of this world.

Cherish your kids and make them your priority. Correct them when they are wrong and praise them for their accomplishments, big or small. The world is changing rapidly, putting increasing pressure on our kids to mature quickly if they are to survive and thrive as respected and productive members of the world to come. Although it may be difficult to forgo your adult indulgences, as you have earned them through hard work and sacrifice, remember to look into the eyes of your future…our future…and nurture in them the love, compassion, curiosity, and all of the other positive virtues that make us better people.

Undoubtedly our children will grow and be given the chance to experience every facet of life both good and bad as we have. Yet it is the indelible tools we give them when they are young that form the foundation for when they embark on their solo journey. Feed them well, clothe them well and enrich their minds so that they are spiritually sound, individually confident, and morally strong.  

Let’s make the children our priority, not our burden.

One of the most powerful things in this word can be obtained and used liberally by anyone who chooses to use it. “If” can be the beginning of something great or the acquiescence to defeat. How will your “if” today?

S. McGill