We Reap What We Sow
By Keiti | December 29, 2007
Anxiety attacks aside, very few things in this world truly scare me. It seems the older I get, however, the one thing that really scares me is what parents in our society (the Americans, that is - despite having grown up in Europe, I am not knowledgeable enough about other countries), are teaching our children.
I kind of have to giggle in an embarrassed sort of way because I feel compelled to point out that I don’t have any kids. But, in spite of the old argument about how one can’t talk about raising kids if they don’t have any (which, for the record, I think is a crock), it doesn’t take a parent to know the difference between right and wrong nor does it take a parent to realize that teaching our kids the difference between the two is the right thing to do.
I read an article this morning about how a six-year-old girl wrote an essay about her father dying in Iraq which netted her, among other things, tickets to see Hannah Montana; an essay which, I’m sure, broke a lot of hearts and garnered much sympathy for the little girl having lost her father at such a tender age.
The only thing is that it wasn’t true. It was a complete fabrication designed to garner the aforementioned sympathy in order to win concert tickets.
Does anyone else find this completely distasteful?
What lesson does this teach the little girl? That lying in order to get what you want is okay? That riding the backs of children who have actually lost a parent in Iraq is somehow not hurting anyone? As the daughter of a career-Army father and the sister of a brother who fought in the first Gulf conflict, I am absolutely appalled that anyone could so callously use the loss of a parent in the current Iraq conflict to garner sympathy in order to win anything, much less freakin’ concert tickets.
It doesn’t take a parent to recognize the difference between right and wrong nor does it take a parent to realize that we’re doing our kids no favors by teaching them that it’s okay to lie, cheat, and steal in order to get what we want. And the little girl did cheat and steal those tickets along with lying.
Only the one who should be thoroughly ashamed of herself is this little girl’s mother. As children, our parents are (or should be) our gauge of what’s right and wrong. A child may not have the ability to make the distinction, but adults are old enough to know better. Or they should be. Based on Priscilla Ceballos’ (the girl’s mother) comments, it seems she doesn’t get it, either. And to simply rationalize the behavior by arguing semantics about how “they never said it had to be true” just makes her look like an ass.
Shame on you Ms. Ceballos! Just remember that when your daughter hits her teen years and beyond, you’ll reap what you’ve sown.
Topics: Misfit Hall of Shame |
December 29th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I totally agree with you. Right is right and wrong is wrong. However, our society doesn’t believe that, show that or teach that. So, of course our parents AND our children act that way. That girl’s mama should expect nothing less than lies/cheating from her daughter. It’s apparent that this is not an issue for her.
Very sad.
January 1st, 2008 at 1:05 am
Oh man, I was floored when I read about that in the news and then became really angry after the shock wore off… to think about all of the children (American and Iraqi) who really DID lose parents in this war! Shame on her! grrrrgh!
At least there was one happy ending I ran across while surfing the tubes: http://www.neatorama.com/2007/12/27/soldier-surprises-daughters/
January 1st, 2008 at 8:17 am
Stacey,
That is so awesome!
I saw one a couple of weeks ago on the news where two little kids were sitting with Santa going over how they wanted their dad to come home for Christmas. The dad sneaked up while Santa had the kids close their eyes.
Don’t tell anyone, but they both made me cry.
