Have
you ever entered a grade school and wondered how many of the kids had breakfast
that morning; lunch that afternoon; supper before bed?
Have
you ever entered a high school and wondered how many of the youth were going
home to empty houses?
Have
you ever paid attention to the kids on the street, thought any of these things
or did you hold your wallet/purse tighter?
Have
you ever stopped and looked at your own beautiful child and wondered if anyone
ever wondered these things about them?
Did
your child have breakfast this morning?
Does your child know what a condiment sandwich is?
Did
your child often come home to an empty house because you had to work more than
one job?
Did
your child ever wander the streets looking for you worried if you could make it
home safely?
Did
you ever look at your child with an exhausted love knowing you would give
anything in the world for their lives to be better and notice they were looking
back at you with that same exhausted loving look?
Do
you remember the day a wild turkey landed in your back yard and you reached for
the ax to kill it because you hadn’t fed your kids in a few days, knowing you
would bite its freaking head off if necessary, even though you were deadly
allergic to it and then you collapsed with starvation and exhaustion before
completing the desperate thought? [1]
In
the world today,
·
21,000 children die every day on
average = 7.6 Million children per year, every year. [2]
·
“…a single parent who's just
scraping by and has little time, energy or skill for parental duties and might
have children who are at risk for a variety of problems.” [3]
·
About one-fifth of children live in single-parent households.
United States (27 percent), the United Kingdom (24 percent), and New Zealand
(24 percent).Many European countries have projected the proportion of children
living with single parents to grow through 2030.” [4]
·
“Of white
children born since 1980 in the US, about 50% will spend some part of their
childhood in a single parent family. For black children the proportion is about
80%. [5]
·
“Fatherlessness is one
of the greatest social problems in Canada.”
[6]
·
“Parental alienation is a disorder that
arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary
manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a
campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming
(brainwashing) parents indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the
vilification of the target parent. The alienation usually extends to the
non-custodial parent's family and friends as well.” [7]
·
“24 million children (34 percent) live absent their
biological father, Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) live in
single-parent homes. [8]
This
is general overview of the stats on our children. Children we have sworn to protect, that don’t
have a chance based on the 1 in 4 stat of the issues they will face due to
family breakdown. Now I am angry! I have 4 children. Which one will I give up to these
percentages? I exclaim a resounding
“yes” to every single question at the beginning of this rant. Do you ever walk down the street saying, “there’s
a statistic waiting to happen” and feel nothing except contempt for the persons
who brought them into this world? What
about that child/youth/adult that never had a chance in our system because of
our laws? We are the ones that voted in
these laws. We created those
statistics. I am part of the “we”. I am also part of the percentage that wants
to change our children’s statistics and there is a part of me that is angered of
fighting with the world to step up and be human!
I am
angry because my fellow humans abandon their own children, because these
children statistically don’t stand a chance to succeed, because these children
are our adults of tomorrow, if they survive.
I am
angry because they are the innocents; we make them suffer for our egos; I am
part of the “we”.
I am
angry because everyone is so busy placing blame, they don’t take responsibility
for their role where the answer is to be human, to continue as a race, to
ensure our world is okay, to stand up, to convince the world to invest in the
solution that should have never been a problem and no matter how hard I try, statistically
one of my four children won’t make it.
We
live in Canada. Canada is the land of
the free and the brave. Where are our
children? Where are your children? Which child are you willing to give up to the
statistics of our world? How much are
you willing to save that child, any child? Ask me how to make change
happen. I have an idea. That is my message.
The
child needs to speak; because we single parents statistically can’t get it
right for their futures. The system
works against us. It is the child that
will change the system. Let’s afford
them the voice we are too chicken shit or exhausted to give.
The
child needs to be heard; 100 Voices Documentary is only the beginning through
empowering our youth to express their experiences in poverty due to family
breakdown and ensure they are listened to.
There are 24 million voices yet to go.
We have to start somewhere. I
want to be a part of the solution that will ensure I don’t have to decide which
one of my four children won’t make it.
I want to stop being included in the uselessness of the “we” and support
the power inside of the “them” that will prove to the “system” that change must
be made, for all our futures. It is time
to listen to our youth; let’s set the right example; they will one day rule our
world. Be a part of the solution, support
100 Voices Documentary.
Interpolation
[1]I am asked to attend workshops to discuss methods
of alleviating poverty because I am usually the only person in the room who has
lived the role and is able to vividly express a moment in the thoughts of an
impoverished single mom. “Did you see
that 5 year old kid on the street with the curly floppy hair that no one has
cut in the past 2 years, on his skooter, and when you look around him you see
no one is actually paying attention to his wellbeing, and he smiles this huge
smile at you like he’s got the world by its star fired tail, he is filthy, but
his smile shines on his stumped teeth that will one day make him ugly, but you
see the smile in his bouncy sky blue eyes and wonder if there is hope for him,
yet his baby sitter is stoned on her front porch, dreaming off into a
non-existent world, because this was probably the only babysitter that mother
could afford because these damn theatrical vultures know the vulnerability of a
single mom and instead of stopping to chastise her to ensure the safety of this
beautiful young boy with no future, you race home, because one job just ended
and the other will begin soon and his firey blue eyes burn into your soul
reminiscent of your own child awaiting your comforting safety before you walk
out the door again to the second job that just might pay for food this week?”
Sources
[2]"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global
Issues. Web. 8 July 2015.
<http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats>.
[3]"Does Single Parenting Affect Children? -
HowStuffWorks."HowStuffWorks. Web. 8 July 2015. <http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/family/parenting/single-parents/single-parenting-affect-children.htm>.
[4]"World Family Map 2014." World Family Map
2014. Web. 8 July 2015.
<http://worldfamilymap.org/2014/articles/world-family-indicators/family-structure>.
[5]"Absent Fathers Linked to Economic
Pressures." Absent Fathers Linked to Economic Pressures. Web. 8 July
2015. <http://www.unicef.org/pon96/inabsent.htm>.
[6]"Canadian Children's Rights Council - Conseil
Canadien Des Droits Des Enfants." Fatherlessness in Canada,
Statistics, Fatherlessness Children Studies. Web. 8 July 2015.
<http://www.canadiancrc.com/Fatherlessness/Fatherlessness_in_Canada.aspx>.
[7]"Canadian Children's Rights Council - Conseil
Canadien Des Droits Des Enfants." Parental Alienation Syndrome, PAS,
Parental Alienation in Divorce, Children's Rights, Canada. Web. 8 July 2015. http://www.canadiancrc.com/Parental_Alienation_Syndrome_Canada/Parental_Alienation.aspx>.
[8]"Statistics." The Fatherless Generation. 6
Apr. 2010. Web. 8 July 2015.
<https://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/>.
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