What an Awesome pivilege!

Last night - I was able to experience the youth of our country step up and speak their minds.

But...- it wasn't just their minds as they were. It was their minds after they had researched...and given a thought to what they would say.

I was "a judge" - at a speech contest...a sacred privelege. I would be part of a consortium that would decide who was "the best."

At the end of the night - my mind was expanded. I was the winner

These young girls and boys - were speaking on how women have been impoverished in many cultures

Sure - we know about the glass ceiling in America. It exists....I know..shocking!...news at eleven...and we need to constantly work on that here.

But..in third word countries - a daughter is not just someone that has to overcome the odds in the workplace like she has to here. She is a curse. She can't work in the fields. She is someone that has to be sold off to someone that has a son that will marry her

That brought me home - back here...in our Western Culture...that is tied to our children in so many ways. Think about that farmer....in a third world country...who a daughter is looked upon as a burden. Once he "sells her off", he and his wife will never see her again. Start thinking about the dog who has her puppies adopted

That dog - will never see her baby again...and that dog will live with it.

Now - that is unconditional love. She brought her pup into the world. It's time for him/her to fend for itself

THAT is one extreme way - to look at things. I'm not saying it is "right." As Shakespeare so aptly put it, "there are no goods or bads...thinking makes it so."

Let's go to the other extreme - we hold our children BEYOND our basic responsibility of making them "good people" that can survive in this world. We expect them to give us grandchildren....to come "home for the holidays"...to make our lives complete.

Our lives - are not about our children. If you have chosen to have them, the responsibility you have is no more than a mother in the wild...you do your best so they can survive on their own.

Anything else - if you get it, is the cherry on top. A parents responsibility is NOT to lower themself to their kids level. It is about living a life that the child will aspire to.