Been too long since last post… sorry … AGAIN.
Well, as the saying goes, “it happened again.” Some six-to-eight miles away from Columbine.
Two teenagers decided to act on their extremely selfish emotions. I don’t know if you know this factoid: TEENAGERS ARE SELFISH. It’s true. They need to be taught how to think about others. Care about others.
We are going to be inundated with how bad guns are. Guns need to be taken away / “controlled.” Guns are the problem. If it wasn’t for guns, we would not being seeing this horror.
Ummmm …
Guns have been with humanity since 1364.
As much as a person wants to blame objects for his or her acts of hate / violence, I can’t.
What I will say … a person had a gun and pulled the trigger. I hold the person responsible for the misuse / abuse of the gun. NOT THE GUN.
We need to get back to being adults. We need to accept responsibility for the training of our children. Our children are CRYING FOR ADULTS to train them!
HURTING PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE! To see a boy and a girl decide to express their pain by inflicting pain using a gun and not see that decision as anything other than a cry for help is where you and I will disagree.
Are there too many guns in our nation? Who knows? Really. There are millions of guns in our nation and certainly, not millions of victims of guns.
ARE THERE TOO MANY FATHERLESS CHILDREN IN OUR NATION? YES! As a high school teacher, I am with them every day. Teaching for twenty-nine years, I can almost tell by the behavior / look / grades if the student has a father positively involved in their lives.
Are there too many children who are “alone” (laws not allowing the parents to make the decision for the seven year-old is “alone”) to make adult decisions at the age of seven? YES! I won’t specify an “adult decision” by a seven year-old because I don’t want to be given another INACCURATE label. But, my goodness … seven year-olds play! How they play is not necessarily WHO THEY ARE! Laws are being passed that gives children – not their parents – as young as seven the ability / freedom to make “adult-life-changing-decisions.”
I am a sinner. I make mistakes. But, the one mistake I didn’t make was making fatherhood more important than being a teacher with a masters; being a teacher with a doctorate. Nope.
See, at 53 years-old, I can still earn a masters. At 53 years-old, I can still earn a doctorate. I had eighteen years to be PJ and Katy’s father. Sure. I am still their father, but how the role has changed AND SHOULD CHANGE. I loved the eighteen years I had to be their father. So special.
When I was younger, I made being a father the most important role I own. And, thanks to that decision, I have a son who is BECOMING a great husband and better father than me. I have a daughter who is going to be graduating from the University of Idaho…and I am sinner and I make mistakes.
Oh, and I helped teach my son to shoot a gun.
Before you blame items for your decisions / actions, STOP!
Accept responsibility for every choice you make and life becomes simpler … not easier. Simpler. Accept responsibility for your mistakes and successes.
Don’t abdicate the most important job you will ever have: BEING A PARENT. STAND UP TO YOUR CHILDREN AND for your children. Know that the job of the parent is to get them ready for pain – not to avoid pain. Know that the job of the parent is to discipline them – not to be their buddy or have them as a buddy.
Until parents return to being adults, we are going to see more and more selfish acts by people. Until parents return to making “intentional” sacrifices (not being our child’s buddy; being consistent “punish & award;” setting the example we want our children to be; etc.), our children will NOT be better than us. By the way … it isn’t a sacrifice to take the cell phone away. IT’S BEING A PARENT. By the way … it isn’t a sacrifice to hold your child accountable and therefore, take something away until your child earns it. IT’S BEING A PARENT.
To go up, you have to give up. Giving up to / giving into your children is not the sacrifice we are talking about today.
God Bless Highlands Ranch, Colorado