We all say we love the children…Whitney Houston sang out that “children are our future” and we all try to make each other believe that we are all for the children.  Are we really?  The answer is a resounding “NO!”  We really truly are not at all advocates for children.  Sure we feel bad when we see a news report where a child is kidnapped or killed.  Yeah, we say it’s so sad when we see yet another child fall victim to gangs or drugs.  But overall, we allow these  events to occur everyday without taking any action to prevent it.  There are some folks who genuinely do something, but for the most part, the majority of those of us in this society, do nothing.  We are all guilty.  I am too.

Ask yourself this question?  What did I do today to prevent a child from going hungry, from joining a gang, from smoking their first joint, from having sex way too early, from cutting him/herself, from committing suicide, from stealing a car, from beating up another, from bullying someone, from being bullied, from killing an animal, from sleeping in the streets, from  dropping out of school, from being illiterate,  from hating him/herself…..? I can go on and on. But it’s so depressing. Just this short list describes the plight of a child in America, in your community, on a daily basis.  So many children live with a sense of hopelessness, and it should not be that way.

You know what could help?  Sports.  Sports is a great way to keep a child interested in life, to create hope and instill some self esteem.  IF, your family can afford to provide it.  Sadly, sports are very expensive and many children and their families cannot afford these programs.  Here is where you could help.  This is s perfect example of where you could make a difference.  You could sponsor a child or two in your community that would otherwise not be able to be on a team.  Do you realize that playing Pop Warner football costs as much as 300.00 per player!  Yeah.  Another example,  you could help a child learn to read.  On your block (in any given neighborhood in the United States today) lives a child who is  struggling with reading or math.  Find that child and offer to help with homework or tutoring surveys.  You do realize that prisons are built in this country  as a direct result of illiteracy.  That’s right, we get the numbers of kids who are coming up illiterate so that we know how many prisons to build in the future.  We are a society that expects children to fail and end up in prison.   Why is that?

I just think we have to step up our advocacy in this area.  We all have to be for the children.  I urge you to please take a look at your life and see how you can offer support to a child in your neighborhood.  I pledge to do the same.

Peace…

So, I have a friend or she was a friend, now she is just an occasional annoyance. And so, from time to time she will call me randomly. Apparently just to be negative and bitter. I am a positive person, I try to see the best in everyone, I try to be optimistic…yada, yada, yada. But this girl. I have no idea, how she can muster up that much negative energy! I only talk to her two or three times a year, but every time we talk, I feel drained for days. Is that possible? Why would anyone want to be her friend? Oh, that’s right, one of her biggest complaints is that she has no friends! Surprise! I have known her for many years, since we were kids. I was 10 years old when I met her, she was 12. Hard to believe it has been 32 years. In that time she has had her share of bad times, rough times, situations. But, damn who hasn’t. She suffered the loss of her mother when she was only 14 years old. That was sad, and the saddest part is that when her mother died, she apparently took the best of her with her. At some point we just need to face our demons and reconcile our issues within ourselves because when we don’t – we become people who basically suck. People that no one wants to be around. My point is, that it is just so much easier to just be happy.