Failing our Children

My boyfriend's friend believes the world is coming to an end. He is prepared for it in just about every way: food storage, gear, a go-to location, etc. I've asked him countless times why he believes the world is coming to an end, and his answers have always involved the economy, politics, foreign policy, and so on. 


Today I read an article someone a posted on FB, and it's not something I would normally read or post, but it's got me thinking. Look at today's youth. Now, I used to work at a world famous toy store, and I observed kids' actions and behaviors with their families. Let me be the first to say, there are a lot of brats out there. My brother who is five years my junior was tortured in elementary school. Other kids would break and steal his things. For years it was one kid who constantly did things to him up until middle school where my brother finally got sick of it and stood up for himself. There are a lot of brats out there.


My mom told me a story her friend told her. Her friend's grandson, as some relatives say, is a demon and/or evil. This boy is four years old. A four year old knowingly killed a helpless abandoned chihuahua puppy. He threw the poor thing out into the rain, launching it from his shoulder out into the yard. His grandmother tried her best to save the helpless creature, but it had suffered brain damage and didn't make it through the night. When my mom told me what that boy had done, I so much wanted to show him what it'd felt like for the puppy. I can't believe how hateful and evil a small child can be.


I'd always thought that kids these days acted the way they did because their parents didn't discipline them. It seemed the children get everything they want and become spoiled. With kids like this around the country, around the world, how can we expect them to save our failing planet?


This article is something I wouldn't normally post, but it needs to be read, and it needs to be heard.

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America …


The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God ? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’

In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said okay.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?