I’ve never been to Baltimore, and I don’t want to go now. There is a lot of history in Baltimore and some day I would like to visit but, things have to change a lot before Baltimorians will ever see my face.
My heart aches just hearing the news, I don’t have to see the pictures, mater of fact, I don’t even want to see them. Who wants to see beautiful, young people destroying their community and their own futures? Not me!
My passion has always been the family. I remember the speech I gave in 8th grade calling the family, “The basic unit of society.” No, that wasn’t my original phrase, I borrowed it from an article I read.
There was nothing like the Baltimore riots in 1952, but even then my heart ached for the kids I saw whose parents didn’t, in my small, naive, and narrow mind, support their kids in the manner I thought was best. Remember, I knew nothing at that age, and still wonder if I have learned anything? I always thought parents were responsible for their kids behavior. And they are!
Will our country or world survive such horrid activity from our young people? Where are the kids’ dads? One mother was seen slapping her son around and trying to get him out of the fray, but he resisted and now, so called “experts,” are criticizing her for “hitting” him. Later she told the press that “He is my only son, I don’t want him to be the next Freddie Gray.” And I don’t either!
Again, where are the dads? Where are their neighbors? Where are the pastors, the teachers, the kid’s employers? Where are the elected officials?
President Obama called for peace, but why don’t the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and President Obama go directly into the riot area and tell the kids to go home? Why don’t they get in the midst of the fracas and put a stop to it. What a beautiful picture that would make!
These men are admired by the rioters and will be heard. Or will they? Have they been using this recurrent violence to pad their political pockets instead of leading with courage and conviction? Please, show us some leadership!
There is no short term solution to the problem, but in the long run, we must get some male leadership in the community or we will as a country, perish from the earth. This male leadership must be grounded in moral principles or it will fail.
Let’s start on our own door step. Let’s put the Ten Commandments back into the schools and our lives, let’s live our lives with honesty and integrity, let’s avoid having kids outside of marriage and remember what it is that causes kids in the first place. Let’s turn off the soft porn on TV and stop supporting those who broadcast porn in the movie theaters and call it “adult entertainment“. Let’s see how good we can become as men and women, let’s become all we can be. Let’s raise all of our kids to be the best they can become. We can do that by being the best we can be. And remember to pray for those who are rioting and for our country.