No longer content to cook and clean and carpool, family life changed drastically. I wondered some forty or so years ago whether it would wind up being a change for the best. Yes women would expand their participation in business, politics, economics, government, and the arts. They were and are entitled to personal challenge, success, and fulfillment in every way, but at what price?
Marriage is no longer a dependable contract between two people. Husbands and wives ebb and flow, in and out of marriage at will. Children lost more than having someone waiting at home to listen, hot lunches, and conversation at the dinner table with dad, mom and siblings.
Communication, dedication, reliability and commitment have had major down turns. Moral values are in steep decline.
Our children are killing one another in SCHOOL! Remember when school was the place where you studied and made friends and played sports? Remember when school was second only to the womb as far as a safe-haven. Oh well, we know what has happened to the safety of the womb.
Of course it is a woman's right to excel as an individual. But how much of a factor has this change in society contributed to the increase in physical and psychological abuse, sexual abuse, lack of respect for the lives of women, unborn children and children?
Where is all this violence coming from and where is it going? There are many possible causes, but what can we ~ what will we ~ what should we ~ be willing to do to change the direction. One wonders, if we are reaping what has been sewn, how much higher the price are we willing to pay?
Feb. 14, 2008
DeKalb, IL. Gunman kills seven students and then himself, and wounds 15 more when he opens fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007.
Feb. 8, 2008
Baton Rouge, LA. A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.
Oct. 10, 2007
Cleveland, OH. A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims' injuries were not life-threatening.
Sept. 21, 2007
Dover, DE. A Delaware State University Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge.
April 16, 2007
Blacksburg, VA. A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30. more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.
Jan. 3, 2007
Tacoma, WA. Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School.
Sept. 29, 2006
Cazenovia, WI. A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang.
Oct. 3, 2006
Nickel Mines, PA. 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died.
Sept. 26, 2006
Bailey, CO. Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself.
Sept. 13, 2006
Montreal, Canada. Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself.
Aug. 24, 2006
Essex, VT. Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend's mother.
Nov. 8, 2005
Jacksboro, TN. One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators.
March 21, 2005
Red Lake, MN. Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.
Sept. 24, 2003
Cold Spring, MN. Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.
April 24, 2003
Red Lion, PA. James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.
October 28, 2002
Tucson, AZ. Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself.
April 14, 2003
New Orleans, LA. One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related.
Jan. 15, 2002
New York, NY. A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.
Nov. 12, 2001
Caro, MI. Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.
March 30, 2001
Gary, IN. One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.
March 22, 2001
Granite Hills, CA. One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.
March 7, 2001
Williamsport, PA. Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.
March 5, 2001
Santee, CA. Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.
Jan. 17, 2001
Baltimore, MD. One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.
Sept. 26, 2000
New Orleans, LA. Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.
May 26, 2000
Lake Worth, FL. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.
March 10, 2000
Savannah, GA. Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.
Feb. 29, 2000
Mount Morris Township, MI. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.
Dec. 6, 1999
Fort Gibson, OK. Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.
Nov. 19, 1999
Deming, NM. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.
May 20, 1999
Conyers, GA. Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.
April 28, 1999
Taber, Alberta, CA. One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.
April 20, 1999
Littleton, CO. 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.
June 15, 1998
Richmond, VA. One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.
May 21, 1998
Springfield, OR. Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.
May 19, 1998
Fayetteville, TN. One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.
April 24, 1998
Edinboro, PA. One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.
March 24, 1998
Jonesboro, AR. Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
Dec. 15, 1997
Stamps, AR. Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.
Dec. 1, 1997
West Paducah, KY. Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.
Oct. 1, 1997
Pearl, MS. Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.
Feb. 19, 1997
Bethel, AK. Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.
Feb. 2, 1996
Moses Lake, WA. Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.
8 comments:
Your Blog made me speechless and sadness all at the same time.
Oh dear, what is happening in the last decade plus.
Everyone has a responsibility when they decide to enter parenthood. That's just the way it's suppose to work. My heart hurts for all these families. There is a saying "It's never too late"
Unfortunately in these cases, it was.
Just reading this in black and white, the totality is horrific.
Pirate, How very brave of you. To me, this is plain truth, though some may say "not politicaly correct' Be careful what you ask for, it may be more than you want.
you bring up a really good point here. everything has a cost. might this simply cost too much. we rail about bad people in other countries. why not concentrate on our own mess here at home first?
Are you advocating we return to coffee clatches, sewing bees, and book clubs? Women have made tremendous strides and we deserve them
The United States Bill of Rights.
The Ten Original Amendments to the Constitution of the United States
Passed by Congress September 25, 1789
Ratified December 15, 1791
II
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
****************************************************
Our Forefather's did not intend or conceive of this sort of madness to occur when this country was formulated and had been at war with England; in order to have a free country called The United States of America.
HELL NO!
They would be appalled that they fought so hard for this.
This amendment gets a lot of talk and no action from Congress. Things have changed and its not going to get any better unless we, 'The People', demand that our three branches of Government DO THEIR JOB! They WORK for all of us.
Smash that 'Glass Ceiling'. Women are not the issue, the problem or the perps here. Put the blame where it needs to be.
Freedom isn't apathy. Wake the hell up people! Do your job! Register to vote, vote your conscience, be informed, get involved, do something; do not just piss and moan about it.
Abolish the NRA'S power and influence on the horrible outcome we all see day to day, the associated PAC'S and ratify the ERA.
NOW!
Children need their mothers who are women, not 2nd class citizens. Children also need their fathers. Stand up and be a MAN. Figure this out.
Otherwise, it's only going to get worse.
Pirate, thanks for having the courage to write this blog.
I am so thankful that women have the rights they have today, fought hard to get them, but like you said at what price. Sadly at the price of family.
In my opinon a woman can not have it all and do justice to all. Something or someone gets the short end, majority of the time it is the children that get the short stick. I have never understood the woman, who wants a career, (I'm not talking about the woman who HAS to work) in the midst of climbing the ladder to success, she choses to have children, only to have someone else raise them.
In addition to many not having a stable family life, throw into the mix, prescribing drugs to children. You have a child who is active, antsy, slow, can't focus,etc, what do we do? Take them to the doctor for a magic pill, so we can have the perfect child.
Instead of the drugs, how about spending time with the child, how about removing the sugar from the diet. An example: my daughter taught first grade, she had a student, for breakfast he had doughnuts, lunch, mountain dew, twinkies, and chips. Midmorning, he was to have his Ritlan, because he was hyper. Hello, wouldn't be all the sugar that was making him hyper, not a chemical imbalance?
My question is, if we start giving children mind altering drugs at the age of five or six, what is this child going to be like, when he/she becomes a young adult?
Could this be one of reasons we have so many young, killing each other?
Parents need to get their priorities straight, if you choose to have children they need to come first.
Sadly we to tend to put bosses, co-workers, friends, and yes even strangers before our children.
It seems we give our best to those outside of the home.
Thank you Pirate for bringing up an important topic..some, like myself, might call it the most important.
It talks about our children, our most treasured gifts. Our future. We should hope that our children are better than we are because we want the world to become a better place. These raw and pliable
delightful creatures are ours to mold and teach each day. We can lead by example as often is the case, and sadly often done badly, and teach what we preach by doing the good deeds ourselves making that path easier for them to follow.
So much is out there to bombard the youth of today, violent high tech "games" and "in your face" media surround them at every turn. Having a child is the most demanding decision we as women make in this world. If leaving the home to seek
personal growth or just even to put needed bread on the table is included the equation is magnified.
Women should be doing all that they think they can or want to be doing~ That does include doing a great job with the most important task and hardest puzzle ever concieved~ that being raising a strong, morally
wired common sense and focused human being.
More complicated is the hope that
human kindness and the all important knowledge of "right and wrong" is instilled early and often.I hope for family values, prayer, praise, one-on-one time,
life lessons and just the simple gift of time to care and ask often "how did it go today?" to be included whenever possible.
Simplified, yes it is and we
should try to eat together as often as possible and look your kids in the face and let them know by words or gestures and that love puddled glance from a parent, grandparent or guardian that you are absolutely crazy about them.
~Love is the key and for me will always be the answer to our future~
Women - working or stay at moms, executives, those who choose to work or have to work and those who don't - are NOT the problem.
Take a look at your long list of atacks and killings and notice the one consistent theme: shoot, shot, shooting, firing, sniping.
The decline of morals, behavior and standards in this country can be laid no more heavily on the shoulders of women than it can on the men, the NRA, the violence in the media and games, the parents or either sex who encourage the proliferation of weapons in this country or allow their kids to have access to them.
Everyone bears the responsibility here, and blaming women for not going backwards to the 1950s when everyone else gets to live in the 21st century - problems and all - is just plain wrong.
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