My proofreader says that when I touch on social issues in my blog that I'm just skimming the surface, sugar coating, playing with Nerf balls. She said I needed to let some of my darker tRuth's out.
Nearly twenty years ago, when my husband and I were foster parents, I sat in a seminar held by the agency we worked with. I don't recall the man's name who was the speaker, but I've never forgotten what he said. He was in charge of a youth home located in the East St. Louis area. The kids that lived there were considered the worst of the worst, just one step away from being in prison.
At that time the social service agencies were trying to implement a new plan. Since the system had so many children in it and the youth homes were over flowing, the plan was to move the children in the more modest youth settlements into individual foster homes, like the one we provided. Then they would take the worst of the worst kids and put them into the youth homes that had some vacancies.
At the time I thought they were surely not serious. After all, the particular youth home we worked with had some pretty damaged children and bringing a damaged child into ones home was a huge challenge.
The man went on to describe some of the situations he encountered with the kids in his charge and I came to the conclusion he must have nerves of steel and the patience of Job.
He went on to tell us that these kids have an 'entitlement attitude'. I had never heard that term and he explained it in simple terms. These kids have the mind set of; if you have more than I do, you should give it to me. Plain and simple.
Yesterday there was a video floating around about a woman who had 15 children. Her fiance', who, by the way, had fathered 10 of these children, had been arrested and was in jail. It takes approximately 7.5 years to give birth to 10 children, back to back. Maybe they were waiting for number 11 before they tied the knot. She had been evicted and even though people had tried to help by way of giving her food, clothing and furniture, she said it wasn't enough. Then she turned to the camera and said that someone needed to be held accountable and pay for all her children.
My blood began to do a slow boil after watching this so I went outside and hopped on the mower. That didn't help, the longer and faster I mowed, the madder I got.
This morning I decided to do a little research to make sure the video was in fact a true story. It was. According to what I found, this actually happened a couple of years ago and one of the comments I read said the father had been arrested on drug related charges. The woman was 37 years old at the time, she was on the system, had her rent paid for plus her electricity bill was covered. Three of her children were old enough to take care of themselves, so there were only 12 under her care. Twelve. Her life had been just fine and dandy until her fiance' had been arrested and the social service workers stepped in, messing everything up.
So here are some of my darker tRuths.
I do not care what color your skin is, I grew up being called the "N" word and I'm not black, so get over it. There are always going to be ignorant people in the world, if you don't believe that, please re-read the above story.
I do not care if you're straight or gay, your sexual makeup is not for me to judge. I do not think it is necessary though for it to be flaunted. You really don't want to watch my husband and me make out, nor do I you.
I do not care what your spiritual belief is. I hope you have one but don't try to cram yours down my throat by telling me yours is the only true religion or by means of terror.
I do not care how many children you have. I admire any woman who could give birth to 15 children and still have her sanity.
What I do care about is your attitude. Having the attitude that every bad thing that happens in your life is someone else's fault is complete B.S. Having the attitude that if someone has something you wish you had, they should just give it to you is no different than a spoiled child jumping up and down screaming "Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Having the attitude that you are owed something for no reason or effort on your part is not the way the real world works.
Our rights in this country are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The key word there is pursuit, it takes action to make things happen. You want something, then get off your duff and do something about it. Yes, times are tough, but we live in a place that was founded on the beliefs that you, as an individual, have the opportunity to make your dreams come true.
A woman shared a story with me the other day about something she had heard the leader in Communist Russia say back in the mid 1960's. He said it would never be necessary to attack the United States because it would destroy itself, it would implode. Are we going to let the entitlement attitude make that prophecy a reality? Its been festering and growing for a long, long time.
I think it's time for us to get a new attitude.
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