{"id":6952,"date":"2013-12-03T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T05:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=6952"},"modified":"2013-12-04T14:27:15","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T19:27:15","slug":"the-real-ghosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=6952","title":{"rendered":"The real ghosts…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, there was a stabbing in a high school cafeteria in Texas.<\/p>\n

Because of a shoulder bump…really?\u00a0 Was that really the cause?\u00a0 Maybe for them it was, but I am looking for a different discussion here. \u00a0I’m looking for the discussion that looks for cause, because I believe it is only from that discussion we can truly move into doing something about what we discover.<\/p>\n

Have you ever paid attention to the young people in your world?\u00a0 Yes, you may say, you love your children. But do you really look at any others?<\/p>\n

It is my observation that the young people in my neighborhood are virtual ghosts to adults.\u00a0 We do not look them in the eye.\u00a0 We do not speak to them.\u00a0 What we will<\/i> do is automatically think ill of them.\u00a0 The Black and Hispanic kids are gang members, of course.\u00a0 All are lazy and up to no good.<\/p>\n

And it does appear to be somewhat true.\u00a0 There is escalating violence and declining test scores and climbing dropout rates.\u00a0 But are these young people at cause or are they a symptom? \u00a0Are they the fallout?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

IT IS EASIER TO BUILD STRONG CHILDREN THAN TO REPAIR \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 BROKEN MEN ~<\/span><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Frederick Douglass<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>I believe they are the fallout.\u00a0 I believe what they do is the result of buying into \u201cthings\u201d as the definition of success.\u00a0 I believe they are the symptom of looking outside of ourselves for happiness…so far outside of ourselves that we leave our children at home, while we go in search of something to fill that empty place within us.<\/p>\n

Why do we feel so empty, that who we are isn\u2019t enough? \u00a0How did we get taught this?<\/p>\n

I believe it is because we are also taught to look for God outside of ourselves.\u00a0 Our parents are told, through our religions, our cultures, advertising and more, that perfection, happiness, wholeness, Divinity, lies anywhere except within ourselves…and they continue the cycle by passing it down to their children.\u00a0 They don\u2019t know any better.\u00a0 If it doesn\u2019t make sense, don\u2019t question it…it\u2019s a matter of \u201cFaith,\u201d one of the things that mere mortals will never understand, that mortals should never understand because we are so sinful, don\u2019t question…or you will find yourself separated from that God you are already separated from forever.<\/p>\n

But there is an uneasiness growing, isn\u2019t there?\u00a0 More and more you see even the strictest of religious persons conflicted in their beliefs.\u00a0 Men like former Vice-President Dick Cheney, who believes in the moral imperative for war, now believes that his lesbian daughter is still lovable, and good.\u00a0 Life and real people in our lives are putting reality in conflict with what we have been told about being separate from God and contradicting what the rules of God are…and the love of real people is winning out.<\/p>\n

Could the reason the love of real people is winning out is because it is as God always intended?\u00a0 Could it be that the vision of the bloodied bodies of hatred of all kinds is breaking our hearts?\u00a0 Are we seeing that if it can break our hearts, it is quite likely not what God wants…and just might be offensive to Her?<\/p>\n

How do we change this cycle?\u00a0 How do we stop our young people from doing things like stab another to death in a cafeteria?\u00a0 I believe it is quite simple.<\/p>\n

Look at them.\u00a0 Talk to them.\u00a0 Engage them fully in your life.\u00a0 Be there for them.\u00a0 Don\u2019t expect others to entertain them for you…play a game with them, take a walk with them, talk to them, listen to them.<\/p>\n

It seems futile to me to expect children to spend their first years being ignored, and being treated as not yet fully worthy because they are not 18, or 21, and yet, at that magic numbered age they are somehow expected to know how to fully engage in society.\u00a0 A teenager is told they should act more adult, and have adult consequences for their actions…but are treated like children in the very next breath.\u00a0 This world exhibits over and over again how little they value children, enslaving them, beating them, indoctrinating them, putting guns in their hands, starving them and more…yet we still claim that the future lies in their hands, and they are our hope.\u00a0 How can this possibly be?<\/p>\n

Our hope, does, indeed, lay with our children, but we must first give them hope.<\/i>\u00a0 All any of us desires in this life is to be seen.\u00a0 It is where we put context to our self image.\u00a0 Yet we have ghosts wandering our streets looking for someone to see them, because their parents won\u2019t.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see these parents as bad parents, by the way.\u00a0 I do see them as not knowing a better way.\u00a0 Maybe we can all teach each other a better way?\u00a0 In the total scheme of things, aren\u2019t we all just children looking for guidance and inspiration?<\/p>\n

(Therese Wilson is a published poet, and is the administrator of, and Spiritual Helper at, the global website at\u00a0<\/i>www.cwghelpingoutreach.com<\/i><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0She may be contacted at:\u00a0<\/i>Therese@TheGlobalConversation.com<\/i><\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, there was a stabbing in a high school cafeteria in Texas. Because of a shoulder bump…really?\u00a0 Was that really the cause?\u00a0 Maybe for them it was, but I am looking for a different discussion here. \u00a0I’m looking for the discussion that looks for cause, because I believe it is only from that discussion we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1411],"tags":[1436,62,1437,461,669],"class_list":["post-6952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anyone_listening","tag-better-way","tag-cwg","tag-hey-is-anybody-listening","tag-parenting-2","tag-therese-wilson"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6952"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7330,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952\/revisions\/7330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}