'Tis the Season

This past week our job has taken us through a variety of crisis and tragic situations. We sometimes come home so drained and depleted emotionally that it is necessary to take a day off. This week we helped in a very big way bring to light information we had about a gang and about their running a prostitution ring. It included some of the kids we worked with and reports tell us ages are as low as nine years old. No- you did not read that wrong, there unfortunately is no typo. Information we possessed led the police to start to pick up some of these guys. This is a real gang; no children playing at it so the danger is real for all those kids who put themselves on the line to talk.

Next we dealt with a young lady who seems perfectly normal, but is seeing people and hearing them telling her to kill other kids.

The week ended with a ten-year-old that was so suicidal she had to be admitted to a mental ward.

At times like this, the evil in the world is too much to bear if you have nothing to replace it with. Fortunately, we have our faith. As my dear friend Richard said, we must put religion back into our world and families.

It is so easy to put that aside, making it always last instead of first in your mind. The problem is that too many of us are doing that. We replace good ethics and values with filth and desires as unwholesome as can be imagined. If we haven't figured out that Satan can win this way, take another look at the world, he is gaining ground, folks. He splits couples up that should stay together, and makes kids delve into evil they cannot control. He fills parents, kids, and countries with rage that spills out into every part of life.

He prods people to hurt each other and be intolerant of just about everything and everyone. Even parents kill their children with no remorse. He works his evil in places where people are not strong enough to fight him off because they do not serve God. I'm not trying to preach here, but until you looked into tiny children with blank eyes, no hope, or listened to the evil voices you might shrug him off, even claiming he does not exist.

Those of us who have normal kids, who sometimes misbehave but, otherwise love the world and life are very lucky. Please cherish them because they are no longer the majority.

We could literally work around the clock with families and kids who are in trouble. Parents don't understand how to parent. Most use a style so lenient that rules are nonexistent. The others parent with a fist of iron, which tends to be unhealthy in regards to a child's growth. A firm, but light and loving hand is a foreign concept to many parents. These kids are not allowed to do anything, nothing at all. If they breathe wrong, the parent criticizes and complains. They are kept so tight that they cannot develop skills. They are smothered and want to leave that home more than anything else. They are growing to hate those parents. Why is a balance, a middle road so hard to find?

There are few good examples of parents, marriages, heroes, or morals. They are dying out and we as a nation are in serious trouble. We cannot pray in school and my grandchildren wonder why they may not even have Christmas decorations or words in their classroom. The schools get "snow or winter holidays, not Christmas holidays." I don't know about you, but I'm celebrating my Savior's birth and will not be told I cannot. This country was founded on religious freedom and now we are losing it faster than ever. The Salvation Army may not enter a mall here since the word God is included in the words on the kettle. How ridiculous. Yes, I'm mad.

We had a principal who lost pay because he refused to participate in a Veteran's celebration because they would not allow a short prayer as part of it. What is the idea of that? Our Scout celebrations take place at the church since nowhere else would they be welcomed to pray as part of it. Have we as a nation lost our minds? Why are we all standing around saying, "Yes, it is stupid? I don't want that?" and then we accept it. Whose country is this anyway?

We need to stand up for what we believe since soon, it will only be a memory if we don't.
Sorry about the soapbox, but that is what this section is for, and I cannot stand idly by anymore.

On a more pleasant note there is occasionally a happy note in what we do.

We have a thoroughly amusing six-year-old who believes you must go to the North Pole to relax. This family, together, dons reindeer antlers and does a Reindeer dance along with the videos. They have a darling, handicapped child who needs constant stimulation so just to keep her happy and healthy they have a house full of stuff that talks, plays music and sings to you. Much of it is stuff that is motion activated so something is constantly playing. It would drive the average parent nuts, but there is a happy child and a loving family who cares.

We took one of our mom's Christmas shopping. She had little money so we introduced her to the dollar store. The delight at getting so much for so little was tangible. You could see her childlike mind, since she is the victim of a brain injury and stroke, as she actually ran at times up and down the aisles picking gifts for her children. She squealed with delight, oohing and aahing about all the beautiful treasures she found. To many of us, shopping has become drudgery. Even though, I must redirect this mom, when she heads toward something not on her list. She cheerily reminds herself, yes, my budget.

When the childlike quality comes back to children it is a beautiful thing. These kids, who are wise beyond their years, callused and hardened by life and circumstances need innocence and childhood in order to move on to adulthood. Some have never had this.

Try to give all children a safe, loving home, and a world worth living in. They belong to all of us and are our future. Thank God every day for normal kids.

© Copyright 2000

Credits: Jo Ann Wentzel