Haunting

Have you ever watched something on television, or in a movie, read something in a book, or newspaper, that continues to haunt you for days afterward? I have had that experience just recently. I was watching a segment of Nightline regarding the explosion of shootings by gangs in Chicago. This segment went on for two nights and ended with the gangs getting together to try to stem the bloodshed of not only gang members but innocent children, grandmothers, people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The numbers are astounding. Literally, 419 people just this year - more than all the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined!

But what haunts me is the excerpt from a young man who pleads for America to help him and others like him to have a chance at life. A chance to grow up and have a job, home, children. He doesn't want to be in a gang, he simply feels he has no alternative. It is either be preyed upon or be the prey. As we go into the voting booths in the next few weeks, we need to think about the America we want to pass on to our children. We're at a crossroads. Our choices are going to determine whether we turn our backs on these young people, or we stand together and insist that things change. It's time to make our representatives responsible for We The People, and not multi-national conglomerates that want to up their profits by controlling our Congress and sending our jobs overseas. If we don't start investing in the people of this country, instead of the Military Industrial Complex, Chicago is coming to a town near you.

Please watch this 1.5 minute segment and look at this young man's face. It's haunting, and also, strangely... sweet. He's just a kid. Somebody's little boy. He deserves a chance to live.

No, he deserves a chance to thrive.

Toy Story Three

So off we went to the movie with our 21/2 year old grandson today. He is all things Toy Story, and transports his Buzz Lightyear and Woody everywhere he goes. What was surprising? The tears in my eyes at the end of the movie. I won't be a spoiler of endings - but just let me say - I'm glad I saved my older daughter's Polly Pockets and my younger daughter's Floppy Dolls.

Pulling them out of their boxes for my grandson to play with, and watching his mother enjoy her toys as much as he was, made hauling them around for three moves definitely worth it.

After all, toys are people too!

Childhood Lost

Recession Drives Surge In Youth Runaways

It is a difficult time to be an adolescent. Not that it has ever been easy. Misunderstood, and often irritating, they can be difficult to be around. The main developmental goal is social, and that doesn't mean their family, who are often first in line for their angst. They can often be easy targets for familial scapegoating, as they make it easy with bad attitudes, laziness, and self preoccupation.

But underneath all that bravado is a child trying desperately to evolve, to become an adult, to be free from the dependence that has been all they've known. Some of these kids come from dysfunctional environments. Homes with anger, hate, substance abuse, and violence. And never more than now.

There is a group that is literally falling through the cracks. Children on the streets as young as twelve years old. Too young to get a job, or even rent a hotel room, they live in packs if they're lucky, sleeping in public bathrooms or foreclosed homes, living next to freeways, or river banks. As our economy struggles, no one struggles more than families on the edge. Armed with very little resources, they are the first to go under. We are seeing a surge in runaways unprecedented in this country. Families that are either throwing their children out on the streets because they can no longer afford them, or not calling the police to file missing persons reports when they run away. It is a serious problem, and growing.

It is estimated 1.6 million kids are kicked out of their homes or are runaways in any one year. Most return within a week, but many are not even entered into the database for missing and exploited children by law officials. Excuses abound. Outdated software, not enough man hours, etc., etc. But the bottom line? We will pay for these kids one way or the other. Either we will help them while they are young and on the streets, or we will pay for them when they enter the criminal justice system. But pay we will.

Am I writing about this because I want to give you one more thing to worry about? One more downer in a world full of them? No. I am bringing this to your attention because you are an intelligent, kind, resourceful group of people. You write blogs, work jobs, have an effect on your world, even if you don't think so. I just want you to remember these children, not to forget they are out there. Talk about them, bring them to the attention of your friends and family. Just please don't forget them. Realize that the 1.5 billion dollars allocated for fighting homelessness is targeted toward families, and not these children out there alone. Help out, or give a few dollars to your local teen outreach. Mentor. Give generously to your local food bank, because these kids are often first in line, knowing exactly when the shelves are restocked.

Just another sign of the times.