Four More Years Or FORTY More Years?

This is a post adapted from one of my Daddy Diaries blog posts for tesh.com

This is not a political rant.  We don’t do political rants on Tesh.com.  But it does have to do with politics, and it’s something that’s been on my mind as a Dad. 

The election is over.  The ads are off the air.  The robocalls have stopped.  The hate has (sort of) begun to recede.  It doesn’t matter who you voted for, I hope you voted.  If your people won, good for you.  If they lost, I’m sorry.  If you didn’t vote, you missed your chance to do something that could have made a difference, and that’s a shame.

We all have a challenge ahead of us as parents now that the election is over and we can concentrate on our lives and families.  Think of OUR parents, whether they were from the World War II era or the Vietnam era.  They all worked hard, often for the same company most of their adult life, to make sure WE had a better life than they did.  They knew the world could be better and tried their best to make it that way, not always for them, but always for us, their children. 

Despite their best intentions and hard work, the world may not be better for their children, otise known as US, than they would have wanted it to be.  It’s not their fault, it’s not our fault, there’s no time to be pointing fingers to whose fault it is.  As someone I used to work with often said, “it is what it is”. 

Every generation has wanted the next generation to have a better life than theirs.  I don’t hear people of my generation talking about that very often, often because we’re trying to figure out how to make our own lives better and not thinking about our children.  It’s a new world in a million different ways, ways our parents could have never predicted.  It’s not simple, it’s not perfect, but it is what it is.  And it’s the world our kids are growing up in, the world we’re supposed to be making better for them.

So we’re finished with all the partisanship and electioneering for four more years.  What about the next forty years?  Or the next eighty years?  What are you doing to make sure the world that our kids inherit from us is better than the world we live in right now?  Stop and think about it.  I’m guessing you can do more.  Let me know how you’re going to make the world better for your children, and THEIR children, in the comments below.

The Most Important Two Minutes You'll Spend This Week

There's a remarkable lady named Hilary Rosen. These days, she's a political consultant and a regular contributor to CNN.  I met her once, many years ago, when she was President of RIAA, the Recording Industry Association Of America. We didn't exactly see eye to eye on the issue of music piracy, and we had a short but substantive chat. I know she'd never remember.  And it doesn't matter. She's a great communicator and has done something pretty special.

 

 

I was on Facebook late last night and saw a post from her.  It really hit home for a number of reasons. Because of my visual handicap, I was bullied throughout my schooling, even into college.  I have two kids with special needs, and every day I send them off to school, I pray that they'll have a day without being bullied, ignored, or insulted in some way.  She asked people to post it on their Facebook walls, but I think it deserves wider distribution, so I'm posting it everywhere I can on the Internet.

Dear bullies, The boy you punched in the hall today. Committed suicide a few min ago. That girl you called a slut in class today. Shes a virgin. The boy you called lame. He has to work every night to support his family. That girl you pushed down the other day is already being abused at home. You think you know them. Guess what, you don't! Re-post if you are against bullying. I bet 99% of you won't , Re-post this if your that 1% with a heart

Please take a moment to share this with anyone you know who has been exposed to bullying, who has a child, or who needs to be reminded that there are some people in this world (and I'm not talking about myself) who care about our kids and their well being.  I think you'll make your Friday the 13th a little better, and help do the same for your friends.

Related articles

• Loving last words of a best friend (heraldsun.com.au)
• Ten Actions ALL Parents Can Take to Help Eliminate Bullying (education.com)

Posted via email from Mark Edwards 3.0