A Foolish son is heavy on a mother"s heart
The night's experience was if i were in a bad dream. We received a phone call about 11:20 pm and were told there was a bad wreck and they thought my son may of been in the car. When I had to make that phone call telling the mother to come to the Emergency room. She had asked me what had happened and at that time I didn't know her 17 year old son Nathan had passed away. I asked myself "Lord why am I being the one to make this call?"I watched the entire event unfold that evening in the StoneCrest ER. First I watched the boy's mother get the news when my wife walked out of the ER with her, the boy's mother had a cold blank stare I will see the rest of my life. I watched the grandmother get the news and state "she had to see him one more time!", she later told me that was the second grandson she lost to an auto accident. I stood in outdoor ER area and tried to console many of the teenagers who were grieving profusely after hearing the sad news. I then watched a pickup pull in and a guy and walk quickly towards Nathan's mother and ask "How is he?" she stated "He's gone, my baby's gone!". I quickly learned that the only thing worse than a mother's cries are a father's wails.
While i'm writing this I see the images of Haiti, the destruction and the many who are grieving and starving. I think to myself how fortunate were are to be born in this great Country, have such an abundance, freedoms and opportunity. It is ironic that we have so much, but also have so many problems. My lil' brother who graduated from the DEA Agency and graduated #1 in his class (thank God) at Quantica, Virginia where the FBI Academy is located was telling me earlier today the Agency had just made a huge bust. He told me Atlanta is now the drug capital surpassing Miami. I asked about America's drug problem and if it was getting worse, he said "Definitely".I asked him "How can we turn this around, when will it stop?", he stated he doesn't see it stopping. He gave me a history lessons and that humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C.in China. I've watched drugs destroy marriages, families, jobs and one guy I knew I heard was homeless and living on the streets of Atlanta.
I've seen too many mother's (and fathers) that are burdened by sons and daughters who have had a drug addiction and make poor choices in life. I often look back at my childhood and high school years and don't remember problems being that bad. In today's world full of so much technology from iPods, computers, text messaging, violent video games, TV shows that portray family and fatherhood in a negative way, it seems that many mothers and fathers are fighting a difficult battle trying to instill values and discipline into today's youth. I was just telling some fellow Rotarian members that my biggest challenge in life is not politics, buisness, marriage or anything else, but it's raising a teenager. I am very proud of my wife who has sacrificed so much of her life to my sons and other children in their school PTO groups and teaching the youth at our Church. If anyone has ever volunteered to help in the nursery and teach the youth you know how challenging it can be.
In Proverbs 22:6 it states "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it". I do believe firmly in that scripture. I remember my own teenage rebellious years and thinking about my mother who i never wanted hurt, but it made me rethink many of my decisions. Drugs and alcohol thank God were never a temptation for me. It seems as though our Country is not taking this problem seriously are at least helping to get to the root of the problem which in my opinion is personal responsibility and being responsible for our own actions and realizing there are consequences for our actions. America needs a Paradigm Shift now more than ever, a fresh look at where we are going, what we are doing and have the decisions and policies of the past made us better or worse as a society?
Let us remember that a "foolish son is a burden on a mother's heart".
While i'm writing this I see the images of Haiti, the destruction and the many who are grieving and starving. I think to myself how fortunate were are to be born in this great Country, have such an abundance, freedoms and opportunity. It is ironic that we have so much, but also have so many problems. My lil' brother who graduated from the DEA Agency and graduated #1 in his class (thank God) at Quantica, Virginia where the FBI Academy is located was telling me earlier today the Agency had just made a huge bust. He told me Atlanta is now the drug capital surpassing Miami. I asked about America's drug problem and if it was getting worse, he said "Definitely".I asked him "How can we turn this around, when will it stop?", he stated he doesn't see it stopping. He gave me a history lessons and that humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C.in China. I've watched drugs destroy marriages, families, jobs and one guy I knew I heard was homeless and living on the streets of Atlanta.
I've seen too many mother's (and fathers) that are burdened by sons and daughters who have had a drug addiction and make poor choices in life. I often look back at my childhood and high school years and don't remember problems being that bad. In today's world full of so much technology from iPods, computers, text messaging, violent video games, TV shows that portray family and fatherhood in a negative way, it seems that many mothers and fathers are fighting a difficult battle trying to instill values and discipline into today's youth. I was just telling some fellow Rotarian members that my biggest challenge in life is not politics, buisness, marriage or anything else, but it's raising a teenager. I am very proud of my wife who has sacrificed so much of her life to my sons and other children in their school PTO groups and teaching the youth at our Church. If anyone has ever volunteered to help in the nursery and teach the youth you know how challenging it can be.
In Proverbs 22:6 it states "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it". I do believe firmly in that scripture. I remember my own teenage rebellious years and thinking about my mother who i never wanted hurt, but it made me rethink many of my decisions. Drugs and alcohol thank God were never a temptation for me. It seems as though our Country is not taking this problem seriously are at least helping to get to the root of the problem which in my opinion is personal responsibility and being responsible for our own actions and realizing there are consequences for our actions. America needs a Paradigm Shift now more than ever, a fresh look at where we are going, what we are doing and have the decisions and policies of the past made us better or worse as a society?
Let us remember that a "foolish son is a burden on a mother's heart".
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