This has been my point exactly as I have made my way through the legal system over the last 10 years.
People need to understand that being a parent means facing some difficult problems.
By turning a blind eye to a dangerous situation makes it all the more dangerous.
Let me explain, if you dont mind reading my soap box.
A teenager is naturally curious. They are curious about their bodies, they are curious about becoming an adult and they are curious about the world around the. Teenagers are also thick headed and will try most anything that is made by the adults to be bad. Because surely if the adults think it is bad, it must be good if the adults are doing it. Such as alcohol. If a teenager is told that alcohol is bad and should not be consumed for any means. The first chance the Teenager gets he/she will try alcohol and most likely to excess. However, the teenager that is taught that alcohol is part of life and that there is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol, but you must drink it in moderation and with control. That with adult goodies, comes adult responsibility. This teenager is more than likely not to be so awed by alcohol and will have a healthy respect for the beverage.
The same can be said of firearms, sex, drugs and anything else in a teenager's life.
If parents are not willing to explain and teach, then they are not parents. Simply to say nothing and do nothing is NOT being a parent.
If you do not like firearms, explain to your children why, if you do not like alcohol, explain to them why. If you feel they should not have sexual intercourse until they are married, explain to them why. If you believe your children are exposed to drugs, sit down and explain to them your objections to illegal drugs and why.
We do not live in a perfect world. If we did, then the world would not need lawyers like myself.
We as parents must take back the responsibility that is ours for simply being parents.
My Mom and Dad set me down when I was 13 years of age and talked about alcohol and what it did to your body and your mind. How it affected your judgement and your ability to act responsible.
My father and I then drank a beer together on the back porch, man to man and talked about life in general and what it meant to be a man. And what responsibility came with being an adult. We talked about sex, love and of course my ne .410 shotgun. But most of all, I was treated not as my father's son but as person. A person with my own thoughts, ideas and beliefs. My Dad did not critisize my ideas or questions. He listened and explained his point of view, based on his many mistakes as a teenager and a young man.
He told me that being a Dad was the hardest job, because he knew he was doing things wrong, but hoped that when the tally sheet was completed that the rights out weighed the wrongs.
We need more Dad's like this in this old world. Dad's and Mom's who know that raising children is hard work and an awesome responsibility. That being a parent is not simply having children and then not taking the time to raise them.
It does not take a village to raise a child. It takes a Mom and Dad to raise a child. Both are important and both are needed to properly raise and care for the future generations.
I am afraid that being a parent has been lost in the shuffle of the politics of the times. It is much easier to divorce your self from your responsibilities and then blame the pitifulness of your children and their bad behavior on someone else or something else, like guns, movies, RAP, Rock or society.
It may be to late for America and it breaks my heart. Because the America where I was raised had bounderies and rules, that were known and followed and above all respected. Parents were the heroes of my day.
My father, God rest his soul, was my greatest hero. My Mom is today my greatest heroine. I am afraid, parents are not heroes anymore, but are looked at as villians. They are made fun of by the media and our liberal government.
We dont need more dumming down of America. We need personal responsibility, we need person accountability and we need politicians who know that parents are the key to reducing crime, violence and bringing America back to glory. Government is not the way.
Our laws need to be re-written to give encentives to the family, not to the unwed mothers. We need to encourage family unity. We need to insure that families stay together. Mom's and Dad's need to be there for the children.
We need to ask God our Father for forgiveness in putting Him so far out of our lives and our schools. We need to ask Him to come back into our hearts and guide in these troubled times and to help us raise our children.
We need to look to ourselves for strength as parents and tell the government to get off our backs and out of the business of trying to raise our children. And we need to take the responsibility of raising our children as a gift for God, that we were blessed by Him to have such wonderful little angels. Children are loaned to us and we are giving the task of raising them, they are all born angels and it is our duty to insure they are well educated, morally strong, and are decent hard working, honest and God loving adults.
God bless you all, may He grant each of us the courage, the will and His grace to face the future with hope and freedom.
Judge Blackhawk
