My
life as it is now is basically how I want my future to be. Comfortable. Filled with
love. A life of quiet and peace and
faith. Truly I can’t imagine any other
future for myself than this sort of "
happily ever after".
When I think about children, I usually think in terms of my youngest daughter, Amy. She’s a talented, bright, caring person, and I wonder what the world holds for her.
Like all mothers, I have dreams for her. A husband who loves her, healthy children, a career (if she wants one) that is filled with successes and keeps her mind challenged.
But the truth is that with the way the world is right now, I find it hard to think about the future at all. When I try to look down that pathway, all I see are flames and burning, war and death, and I can’t handle that. I see a country going to hell in a handbasket with a Hitler-wannabe president who only cares about his little war. I see religious extremists wanting to kill everybody born under Old Glory. I see a world that is headed down the road to disaster, and I want to put on a blindfold and block it out, so that I can continue to have hope for my little girl and her future.
The future to me is a big question mark. I do what I can every day to try to make it the best possible future that I can. I only hope that the world wakes up and realizes that right now we, the adults, the decision makers, are endangering the futures of every child on the planet, American, European, Asian or Middle Eastern, Christian, Muslim, Jew or atheist.
The future belongs to these children, the ones we see in news photographs with tears in their eyes, hungry, bleeding, dead. Celebrating acts of war in the streets, or mourning these same acts of war. What we teach these kids now, today, is what they will carry throughout their lives. Remember that old "A child learns what he lives" story? "If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight". What are we teaching our kids? How many miniature terrorists are being raised right now? How many Hitlers? How many warmongers? And on the side of hope, how many Mother Teresas and Jimmy Carters? How many sinners, how many saints?
The kids are our future, a future we are molding every time we open our mouths to speak to them, and every time we take any action in their lives. What we teach them now is what they will do later.
Personally, I’m scared as hell.