Saturday, January 16, 2010

Where is the inspiration??

Greetings to all!! I pray the day is treating you well. Perhaps I am removed from the brighter sides of things, but I just don't see inspiration for our youth the way I was inspired as a kid!! Don't get me wrong, President Obama is inspiration and proof that persistence pays. But I just don't think it is enough!! I am far from being "old", I am only 36!!! I can remember growing up that striving to be something in life meant something!! College wasn't optional, respecting my parents definitely was not optional!! We were supposed to graduate high school, go to college, find our careers, get married THEN have children. It was taboo to have a child unmarried, let alone while we were still young!!! I am not passing judgement on anyone but what I am saying is that we were "inspired" to reach for more and not settle for the status quo. As I look at my friends, their lives and accomplishments, the majority of them have done just what we were expected to do. We did graduate high school, go to college, find our careers, get married and have families (not always in that order-marriage/kids or kids/marriage or no kids no marriage...you know what I mean). We take care of our families because that is what we do, it isn't anything that deserves praise. A Father is a Father, not a baby daddy!!! The inspiration came from seeing those before us go on to accomplish many things. Our music, TV shows all gave the same message-family, faith, education. Where is the inspiration today? The notion of sex between teens on TV started my senior year of high school!!! Now, 5th graders can turn on the tube and see it all day long. We wore baggy pants, and hoop earrings. They wear mid-drifts and hip hugger jeans with their tongs showing. Again, I may have a different view here, but it seems to me that our youth today are ready to grow up but not ready to be adults. Our version of growing up was going out of state to school, their version is having kids!!! Where is the inspiration?? Children having children, repeating the cycle and not realizing until they are 30 plus that something should have been done differently but by then it is all most too late!! They settle for dead end jobs that have no promise of a future career. The inspiration should come from home and friends. I grew up with people whose parents thought the same way as mine. They could spank me and tell my mother they did so then I would get it again!! We had respect for our teachers, pride in our history and a desire to be above average. I don't see it anymore so if I am wrong PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. What flock are you flying with? What flock are your children flying with? Inspiration....where will you begin? It starts at home, so be an example of something greater than yourself no matter how "great" you think you are. Love you all!!!

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