Do you ever just sit and take the time to
think about the state our world is in?
Last week when I went to visit my friends and
their baby, the father of the baby was showing me a baby book that they were in
the process of writing in for their newborn daughter. Of course…I cried through
the whole book haha…
The dad told me that when it came to the part
where you’re supposed to write what’s going on in the world and major events,
he didn’t want to fill it out because of everything that’s going on. So we joked
that they should just write “The world is ending.” As comical as that was in
that moment…it really made me sad to think about everything that IS really
going on.
…Wars…diseases…murders…corruption…starvation…gang
violence…the list goes on and on…
Last Saturday I went to Magic Mountain with a
couple of my friends who were visiting from Phoenix. It was fright fest that
night so there were “zombies” walking around the park scaring people. My
friends and I were standing in line for Goliath and a teenager next to us was
asked to get down from the hand railing that he was sitting on. He got down but
he proceeded to (quietly) cuss out the worker who asked him to get down and
said something stupid like “It’s a free country I can do whatever the (bad word here) I want.”
So me…being me…(I think cussing is one of the
trashiest things people can do) just gave him a dirty look…haha…I saw that some
lady was standing right next to him on her phone...I didn’t know who she
“belonged” to…surely she couldn’t be his mother because she just let him run
his mouth off so disrespectfully…but no…she was his mother…just playing on her
phone not even caring that her son sounds like a gang member from “End of
Watch”.
Sad.
So some time passed and we were still in line
when some zombies decided they were going to scare the group of junior highers
right behind this lady and her ignorant son (there were actually 3 or 4 sons
with her…but the others looked miserable the whole time and never said a word).
When the zombies scared the group of junior highers, one of the girls ran into
the mom of the sons and the mom started cussing the JUNIOR HIGH girl out! I
literally was just staring at her…shocked…I don’t know why I was so shocked…she
didn’t care how her son acted, so clearly she was no better…then one of the
junior high boys ran into her and the mom…THE GROWN WOMAN…PUSHED the JUNIOR HGH
boy and started cussing him out!!!
(I like literally could not believe it…I’m
getting really mad just thinking about it right now…)
The kids told the lady it was an accident and
they were sorry and didn’t mean to but the lady just kept cussing them out…
So…I couldn’t keep quiet anymore…
“You realize you are cussing out children
right?”
“I don’t give a (bad word).”
“Alright. Would you like to go in front of
us?”
“No. Mind your own (bad word) business.”
“When you are offending me by cussing out
CHILDREN it IS my business.”
“Why don’t you try being ran into by (bad
word) kids all day”
“Maybe you should go home.”
“Maybe you should shut the (bad word) up.”
At this point…I began to laugh…in her
face…………..yeah………I literally just could not take this lady serious…she was so
ridiculous…but really...that is all I could do because I just felt so uncomfortable with the whole thing and how this grown woman was acting towards children.
“You are cussing out children who are MUCH
younger than you…”
“I don’t give a (bad word).”
“Are you serious right now?” (while I’m
laughing…)
“Yes” (very seriously…but I could tell she
felt stupid)
“I can’t take you seriously, you’re
ridiculous.” (still laughing…)
End of conversation.
Her sons looked very embarrassed…
Then my friend Ryan and I proceeded to joke
about how she was such a friendly soul…like a purring kitten…
As much as I couldn’t keep from laughing
(because literally…if you could see her…she was just sooooo ridiculous…) I
still was so mad with how she treated those kids…
There were so many other things I wanted to
say to her…like I wanted her to be aware of the fact that what she was doing
was considered child abuse and NOT OKAY. And that she was setting an UTTERLY
TERRIBLE example for her kids. And…I’m sorry to say…I just wanted to tell her
that she was straight up TRASH and that I felt sorry for anyone who ever had to
be around her. And no wonder her son sounded so ignorant…he was getting the
perfect example of how to be that way!
But……………………..I knew that to retaliate in such
a way would make me no better than her……………………………………and I know God was just
holding me back……..I stayed extremely calm during the whole thing and I said all I needed to say…and hopefully it made her really
think about her attitude (and make her feel like an idiot……haha….but really…)
Then…I began to really think about it…for the
remainder of the time spent standing in that line…and the whole drive home…and
that night while lying in bed…I just thought about that lady and wondered about
what she might be going through…she was on her phone all night and my first
thought was to think about how she was just careless and ignorant and probably
just on facebook and in her own little selfish dumb dumb dumb world and cared
more about that crap than the way her kids acted…but what if she was really
reading an email from a family member that talked about someone close who just
passed away? What if she was in the middle of an emotional conversation about
how she’s losing her house and she was just really stressed and going crazy…?
Then I began to feel really sad and sorry for her…because even if any of those
things WERE the case…she still set a horrible example.
Sadly though…I think that was just her.
Clearly her son had been raised to believe that his behavior was alright…which
made me so much more sad…
How lost do you have to be to think that
cussing out children and pushing them is OKAY???
Part of me just wanted to tell her “I’ll pray
for you” buuuuut….that would have just been me being sarcastic….because I
really didn’t want to pray for her at all……..
I wanted to tell her to think before she
acted and bring up the fact that maybe one of those junior highers has abusive
parents and they came to six flags to have a good time and here they are
getting treated the very same way that they are trying to get away from at
home…or maybe one of their parents just died and this is the first time they
have had fun in months or maybe they have cancer, or maybe I have cancer and
you’re cussing me out…hah…I don’t know…
I’m not talking about all of this to try to
make me seem like anything great in any way...I know I could have handled the situation much better...and…trust me…I spend 6 hours at work with junior high
and high schoolers then an extra 6 hours throughout the week at church with
more junior high and high schoolers…and I know what it’s like to get annoyed
and frustrated and just burnt out. And sadly…there have been times where I have
allowed that to determine the way I act and my attitude towards the kids…but if
anyone ever questioned my heart and love for my students and children and youth
in general…I wouldn’t stop fighting to prove myself.
And it really made me so angry how this lady thought
that how she was acting was okay…
I started thinking about today’s society and
how it seems like the behavior of people is just getting worse and worse…
I thought about how mad I was and how hurt I
was for those junior high kids and how this GROWN WOMAN thought it was alright
to treat them that way…
I thought about hearing stories on the news
about moms and dads who are so strung out on drugs that they leave their babies
to starve to death…
I thought about kids I know of that are
homeless and have to find a different place to sleep every night…
I thought about people I know who have been
abused in their life by their parents and family members…
I thought about kids who act out and have
poor attitudes because they don’t have anyone at home to teach them better…
I thought about my friends’ newborn babies
and how precious they are and how I would do anything to protect them…
And I thought about people who seem to have
no problems at all…and don’t care about any of the families who do.
And I thought about how it is all just going
to get worse.
I cried…for a good couple hours…
And then I realized…IT IS A WAR.
We’re not going
to war – WE ARE AT WAR!! And we need
to choose which side we are going to fight for.
I CHOOSE to speak up when I see people being
mistreated. I choose to not be afraid when people who are older or bigger or
even more educated than I am are taking advantage of someone or manipulating
someone or hurting someone.
After I thought about all of this for a good
few hours I was reminded of what the real issue was.
With my job…I have found myself (so many
times) just wishing I was filthy rich, or that I would become rich…so I could
buy people houses that need it and pay their bills and put food on their
table…but money doesn’t solve the REAL issue. And buying someone a home doesn’t
save them. They need Jesus.
They need a Savior.
I can’t ignore it any longer.
I’m reminded of a John Mark McMillian song Between the Cracks:
Hope grows between
the cracks in the asphalt
in the downtown
ghetto streets
that contour the
government housing intentions of my heart
No one notices the
daisies don't care
about gang related
violence
as long as they
get enough air and water and sun
They're all just
fine
Who would've
thought it but life is finding a way
through this
wasteland of cynics, concrete, and pain
There's a man down
here somewhere between
those Saturday
cartoons and the dirty magazines
He's raising the
dead in the graveyards
where we've laid
down our dreams
and His name is
Hope
Hope stands high
on the 15th floor
of a Christmas
tree perched about the ledge of a fortress
of steel that's
trying too hard to be somebody's home
As it ceased my
attention from I-85
though the throes
of the day
Were still
writhing inside
I lifted my head
as I drove home that night and knew
everything was
gonna be fine
Who would've
thought it but life is finding a way
through this
wasteland of cynics, concrete, and pain
There's a man down
here somewhere between
those Saturday
cartoons and the dirty magazines
He's raising the
dead in the graveyards
where we've laid
down our dreams
and His name is
Hope
His name is hope
Everybody needs a
little
His name is hope
Everybody wants a
little
His name is hope
Everybody wants a
little
His name is hope
Everybody needs a
little
There's a man down
here somewhere between
those Saturday
cartoons and the dirty magazines
He's raising the
dead in the graveyards
where we've laid
down our dreams
and His name is
Hope
Can you hear him
outside?
He's been singing
all night
He's saying when
you gonna come out
from behind those
paper-thin walls
of your cardboard
box reality?
There's a man down
here not worried or afraid
that some
politician forgot all the promises he made
And He's raising
the dead in the graveyards
where we've laid
down our dreams
and His name is
Hope
Can you hear Him
outside He's been singing all night
He's saying when
you gonna come out from behind
These paper thin
walls, your cardboard box realities?
Who would've
thought it but life is finding a way
through this
wasteland of cynics, concrete, and pain
There's a man down
here not worried or afraid
that some
politician forgot all the promises he made
And He's raising
the dreams in the graveyards
where we've laid
down our dead
His name is Hope
HIS NAME IS HOPE!!!!
As much as my “I’ll pray for you” comment
would have been my sarcasm side revealing itself…I know that praying
for that woman is really what I NEED to do.
My mentor reminded me today (while speaking
about a different subject) that it’s not our choice to pick and choose who we
help and bless and “feed” but that it is our DUTY to be obedient to Christ in
loving and helping ALL mankind.
I pray that my actions and words and attitude
resemble NOTHING BUT Christ and HIS attitude. I pray that I love others how
Christ would/does and I pray that I have patience and strength to not allow the
way I might feel for a moment, effect how I treat others. And that when I am
frustrated with students, instead of reacting out of anger or disbelief…I
lovingly point them the right way and help them learn and grow instead of
pushing them away and just making it all worse…
