The World Through My Son's Eyes

Yesterday my teenage son and I had a talk.

This "talk" took place just after a male adult verbally attacked my son for nothing more than the innocent act of reading a sign. I had left my son outside of a Publix grocery store to finish his ice cream cone while I made a quick trip inside. Apparently he was reading a sign on the glass window and a the male half of a couple who was leaving the store was under the impression that my teen was eyeing his wife. This ignorant redneck emerged from Publix gesturing and raising his voice at my unsuspecting son - yelling "What are you looking at?". My son thankfully was able to answer firmly and honestly "I'm not staring at anything" despite the shock he felt at being approached in such a manner.

Anyway, this situation led to a mother/son discussion about how unfortunate it is that we must proceed with real caution when it comes to people. It seems there are many dangers lurking outside of the safe haven of home. We really don't know who we are dealing with anymore - appearances quite often "lie". Titles can "lie" too. You know what I'm talking about - the "titles" we used to be able to trust. "President", "Pastor", "Coach", "Teacher", "Senator", "Doctor","neighbor" - even "mother", "father" and "friend". It is a sad state of affairs when an adolescent says he wishes it was "like in the old days". My heart aches when I hear him utter these words - silently agreeing and, at the same time, fearing that our society is on the most slippery of slopes straight to hell. My son asks if people were truly different in decades past. I tell him that, on the whole, I believe things were better - but that there have always been elements of evil and perversion. I tell him that people's constant exposure to violence (through television,film and video games), and easy access to pornography (through internet) have probably made everything worse. I tell him that sick and twisted things still occurred in the "good old days" - but we just didn't hear about it like we do now in the age of instant, continuous news.

CNN provides me with new material daily - information that falls under the category of "What to Forewarn the Kids About". This drug, that drug, this trend, that trend, this perversion, that perversion...all this to watch out for while, at the same time, we live with the underlying and continuous threat of terrorism.

Raising children in the current state of the universe unfortunately requires a different skill set than my own parents needed. I pray every day now for the wisdom and strength I will need to do what is the most important job I've ever been blessed with - that of being a mother.

Yesterday my teenage son and I had a talk.