Perspective and Reflections

When I opened my inbox on my email yesterday morning, the last thing I expected was the picture associated with this article. As I sat for a minute and looked at it, I realized several things. I printed it and put it on my bulletin board in my office at home. This picture was taken during the Sudan Famine in 1994. It was a Pulitzer Prize winning photo.

I am as guilty as anyone for being less than conscious about living where I do and having what I have. We are by no means well off. We are average, blue collar working Americans. But we do eat everyday and we pay the bills. We save some money and we get by.

When I looked at the picture, I cried. All I could think of as I read the caption that goes with it was, Why didn't the photographer help? In the caption it says the child has to crawl a kilometer to the camp for food. The photographer left Sudan immediately after taking the photo and then committed suicide shortly after getting home. He was so distraught over what he saw, he just killed himself. How crazy. He didn't help this child, but killed himself over it. That is not the answer.

I don't know what the photographers limitations were that day in regards to assisting this baby in getting to the food in the camp. Maybe he wasn't allowed to help or couldn't help. I do know if situations were different and it were me taking the picture, I would walk as far as needed and through whatever was needed to pick up this baby and take him to food.

This made me truly reflect on what we have in America. With school starting and the economy waning, there has been story after story of families who are struggling just to get school clothes and supplies. Families who are trying to keep their homes. This country appears to be in crisis. NOT!

Take a good look at the picture. We don't know what crisis really is. We have reality show after reality show blasting on the TV all the time. This picture is a reality show all by itself. Even though it was taken in 1994, it still has impact.

In the Great Country of America, we are not in crisis financially, we are in a reality check. For the last 20 years or so, America has been booming. The computer age came into it's own, wealth was abundant, the welfare recipients were settling into a non working, free ride mode, the poor elite took over, the illegals came in and took over for the welfare people on the job and are close to being a majority and America is so sure its ---- doesn't stink.

Now here we are. People have become so accustomed to having what they want, when they wanted it, America forgot where it came from. Our forefathers and mothers landed on boats many years ago to a struggle to live like nothing we can even imagine. You hear and see stories of the past but how many people can actually empathize with the past?

Can you imagine carrying 2 five gallon buckets of water across the field and through the woods to the house from the river or cooking your supper on a wood cook stove or campfire vs a microwave? Have you done without a meal to insure your children ate?

I think if you take a moment to look around, not many are doing without a meal. We are the fattest country in the world. Our children EXPECT to get NEW EVERYTHING every year for school. WHY? What was wrong with that book bag from last year? What is wrong with using the same crayons or pens from last year or wearing the same shoes from the summer? Why do you have to have a NEW one every single year. Because you may not be in style. CRAP!!!!!

America has enjoyed the boom. We have created an entire generation of uncaring, selfish, irresponsible adults or near adults that have no concept of what it feels like to be back to the basics. They think basics include a cell phone, laptop, designer clothes and shoes and unlimited funds. Then they hate their parents still.

I realize that it isn't necessary to cook on a wood stove anymore. I also am a fan of progress. I love my computer and I love technology. I am also spoiled.

Our ancestors left behind the lessons of saving, frugality, hard work, education, responsibility and love for country. Our world today is teaching lessons of everything now, a feeling of somebody owing them for being alive in America, irresponsible behaviors, laziness, no education and discontent.

Sorry people are unhappy people. If you are a sorry individual, you are a complainer and a lazy person. You rather sit around and do nothing and complain instead of putting your life together and contributing to the human race. You are taking anything, anyone will give you and you never give back.

America is in crisis for sure. Only it is not a money crisis. It is a LIFE crisis. We are multiplying by the second. We are producing the most illiterate and uneducated bunch of kids in the world. Americas moral infrastructure has crumbled. Parents aren't concerned with teaching their children to be responsible in life. They are teaching them to grab all they can, use all they can, get as rich as they can, buy all they can(whether they actually afford it or not) and be as irresponsible as possible.

When we sign a mortgage for a house that is selling for 600,000 that is really only worth 200,000 and was probably built for 70,000, knowing we are going to struggle with the payments but because we want to APPEAR to be doing good, we jump into it. What do the children see when the foreclosure notice comes because life happened and it didn't work out as planned?

I could give you 100 examples of parents and their education of their kids with these types of actions. I won't. I will give you another example. On the news last night there was a story about a girl who got a job to help her family because they were about to lose their home. The daughter was contributing about 200.00 each month to the household. She was also paying for her cell phone, entertainment expenses and clothes.

The mom was almost in tears because her daughter had chosen on her own to get a job and help out. Naturally for a mother this gesture would be close to your heart. I felt for the mom for a moment. Then I thought.

I grew up in the depths of NC in the 60's and 70's. From the time I was very young I was made to help out. From pulling weeds in the garden to folding, ironing clothes. Whatever had to be done, we were helping. My grandmother, who was a mother of 12 in the Great Depression, had a 5 acre garden, pigs they killed, chickens, and a cow.

People used to have more children in order to help with the family farm. This saved hiring outside help and put everything back into the family. This concept has gone from that way of thinking to today's way of thinking where a child may not leave the couch for hours or the computer or may never clean their own room or wash a dish.

Take a good look at the picture again. Would this precious child care if he had to work a little? I doubt it. Probably dead, this dear baby would have loved a morsel of food. He had already crawled a ways to get it.

What are you teaching your children today? What are you wasting today? What will you take for granted today?

I almost threw away a moldy roll this morning. I thought of the picture. Even though it may seem extreme a bit, it is reality. I put it in a baggie in the freezer. We won't eat it, but I will save it for the birds and squirrels that frequent my yard.

America is spoiled. There are millions upon millions of people across the world that would sell their souls to have a 1/10th of what the poorest person in America has. Our lowest expectation is totally out of their reach. Sudan 1994 is a memory but the problems across the world are not.

So what if your child helps the family? Why not? Maybe that has been the problem. Kids have been given so much, they don't know how to contribute back. Parents want so much to give their kids what they may or may not have had that they have gone way overboard.

If you are one of the families struggling today-look at the picture again. Reevaluate what is really important in your life and your family. If you are well off and are one of the families who take your wealth for granted-take another look at the picture. Are you truly giving back to the best of your ability? If you are on welfare and you know you are not trying to get out of it, you are just using the system-look at the picture again.

They say the illegals come to do the jobs Americans won't do. Why won't they do them? Because it is easier to sit on your butt and get food stamps, free rent and a check. It is easier to let your children be stupid and not amount to anything. No ambition. No true reason to do anything but continue as planned.

I wonder if the parents of this child in the picture were alive? I wonder if you gave them a chance to make enough money to get food when they were healthy if they would have done whatever it took to do that.

We are truly sad here in America. Me included. We waste, we complain, we use and abuse, we willingly live in ignorance and stupidity and we stand up and claim to be the GREATEST COUNTRY in the world. No wonder everybody outside of the US hates us. We are arrogant pigs.
It is never enough, we are better than the rest of the world, blah, blah, blah! All you have to do is turn on the TV. We live in fantasy from the rest of the world.

Reality Check says that is all just a lie. Time will tell America. I think the current economic situation is a wake up call. I think this election is also a wake up call. You can't live irresponsibly and keep on going. Sooner or later, it comes back around.

Have you ever heard the saying from the Bible that goes, Whatever you sow, you also shall reap. Whether you believe in the Bible and God or not, that is a REAL statement. What comes around goes around. If you live in a manner that is wrong, not responsible or just plain stupid, it is coming back to bite you sooner or later.

Don't you think its time to start really teaching your children what they need vs teaching them to be superstars and millionaires(even if only in appearance). If you truly want to be a great parent, teach your children how to be hard workers, caring citizens, responsible adults, and financially responsible human beings. Adults that have goals and ethics and dreams.That is the teachings of our grandparents and the people who made this country GREAT to start with.

The picture is worth more than a thousand words. Don't look at it and say "poor thing" and never think about it again. This is reality. Not winning on a game show or being a star.