Lately there seems to be no good news. Either it’s celebrities doing bad things to themselves or others, or it’s much worse. You know its bad when your four year old son, who reads better than he should, is upset about explosions in midtown and a bridge collapse. We can turn off the news on the TV, but he can easily read a “three college students shot” headline on the front page of a newspaper. For the most part he has no point of reference for these types of things; not enough life experience to make sense of it. But as a parent I’m tasked with having to try.
From young we’re told that good things happen to bad people, and that it’s always the good ones that have to die, and that life is short. Not very comforting when you think about it. We watch Nicole Ritchie interviews while Darfur burns. We spend hours in front of the tube watching people who make millions break home run records while our prisons continue to fill. We ban words while war rages on in Iraq. I’m not sure how long we can go on like this.
It’s not all gloom and doom though, as we like to say at the office. When my son says “let me get that for you” and opens the door, I feel like we’re doing something right. When he apologizes for something, without us prompting, saying “Daddy, I’m sorry for hurting your pee pee” (don’t ask – he’s four and a half feet tall and evil) I know he has a conscience that I helped build. I have to believe that if we teach our children well that there will be hope for the future. That’s all I got.
The sad part is Keith, you are doing just as those Newark parents did, teach your child right from wrong. You are teaching your child feelings, awareness, compassion, questionablity, accountibility. That is what that strong but heartbroken Newark father said. That man was strong enough to tell those who were listening, “don’t blame this violence on the mayor, look within yourself and look at yourself. Look at the parents of those who perpetrated the crime and blame their parents.”
I guess a a parent I’m scared. Raising kids and having kids is like riding a motorcycle. Its not me I’m worried about, its everyone else around me and their inattentiveness that I’ve got to keep an eye out for.
I could have written this post (well, not the pee-pee part! lol) b/c I have definitely been thing about all of this in the same vein.
sad stuff…
Sad… and painful.
I believe in hope, but I also believe in athletic cups – in which I will be investing as soon as I find out I’m going to be a father.
Brother, we do the best we can. That’s all one can ask. I commend you for doing your part.. and get a cup 🙂
great post. i can’t even watch the news myself b/c my heart can’t handle it.
glad to have found your blog!
No, we can’t go on like this. I just ask myself what it’ll take for stuff to really change. It can’t be only about me teaching my kid right from wrong because some other kid may come along and pop my kid regardless. How do we reach out and become that village once more?
Well as Masta Killa would say: “Light is provided through sparks of energy
from the mind that travels in word form… Giving sight to the blind, yet the dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum”
In other words, we see truth, some folks just put a blind eye too it and focus on the distractions.
I feel you Keith, it is sad how we often ignore the grander broader actuality in favor of focusing on the trivial. It is the way of the world, I pray for this earth, as we stand firm on a foreign land.
From a mother of three sons, and two grandsons, I understand your frustration and concern. My sons are now grown, and the youngest one leaves for college on Monday, yet I remember so vividly being so concerned with the bad news they were seeing and hearing. It only gets worse as they grow older. Imagine having to share with you son how to respond to the police when pulled over….. If had that conversation three times. We all know there is good new out there, but it is definitely buried under all the trivial, violence and theft. However, I salute you as an obvious caring and compassionate African American Dad…Now that’s good news!
These same thoughts run through my head on the regular. I find myself boycotting the news for longer periods of time than I ever thought I would. I also find myself praying for longer periods of time than I ever thought I would. Be blessed.
Hmmm – great post. This could be the moderation for a great conversation.
Excellent post and so true. A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I were talking, all were moms. We were discussing the horrible things we see on the news that happen to children (most of the times at the hands of adults). But we all agreed that no matter how well you raise your kids you still can’t protect them from people who had no kind of parenting. And the father one of those murdered college students said something similar, he said its the parents fault that their child murdered his. And I totally agree.