The Bullying Epidemic

What in the in the world is going on with this bullying thing????...   Granted, times are different today because of technology, social networking like facebook, etc.   But there is also a lot going on here that people are not discussing or even pondering because many of these kids are killing themselves in their desperation.  Where do these kids learn about suicide like this??   Where are the parents, brothers and sisters, and teachers while all this is happening??  What the??? ....  As it is, this report mentions a 36% of adults being notified?... What's going on with these kids that they don't even trust or have enough confidence in their parents or anyone else to help them before these problems become out of hand?  ...  This is another social issue of our time that is the RESULT of something else going on wrong in the home, and although there aren't a lot of studies opening up on the causation of this, that I've read about ... this just seems like kids living all alone in their own secret world, outside of their families and being completely isolated.  

Back in the day, if I had issues with someone in school, a fight would settle it and if it didn't, I used to run home to get my big brother or my mom was ready to come in to the school to find out what's going on.   And even if that might not seem like enough, it was always enough to bring attention to things and squash the issues most of the time.   But today, I think kids are encouraged to handle their business all by themselves and perhaps the kids life outside of the home is exclusively the kid's business.  They either don't want their parents involved or the parents aren't doing enough to get involved; and the school system perhaps isn't doing enough to bridge that gap.  

It's no secret that our schools are in shambles academically.  It's also dropping the ball on these issues and like mentioned before, this might be a product of a more extensive social problem within our culture where technology might be part of the problem but a bigger problem might lie within  family issues in the home.

If a child doesn't have the confidence to bring in their family support when they're having issues in school, then it's easy to see how there might be problems at home even before there are problems in school.  We need to teach our kids, that regardless of anything, their main "peeps" is FAMILY... The one's that have their same blood flowing through their veins.   Then they'll develope enough self esteem to know where their true support lies in all circumstances.

Whitney Houston - The passing of another icon

When I think about the amazing talent of Whitney Houston I have consider the talents that God bestows on us as humans. The talent of creating a skyscraper, the talent of producing and magnificant painting, the talent of a having a scientific mind, or being an amazing leader, etc., etc.



All these talents come from God. Like many other incredible performers, Whitney Houston was said to have honed her singing talents growing up in church.



I'm not surprised by the amazing media attention regarding her recent death. It's a shame her personal life and battle with drugs also sits side by side with her phenominal music career.



But her music melted the hearts of millions of people myself included, and her music like many amazing performers has a way of drawing us back to who we were and what we were doing when her songs came out. Because of the power and beauty of that natural talent, fans of her music are frozen in time when we hear one of her beautiful songs. Her untimely passing will not be able to tune out the beauty of those memories nor the beauty of her recorded voice.





She's numbered among the many tragedies of an early super-stardom success. Having passed away at the age of 48 means that she was really young when she was at the peak of her music career. We've seen that a lot of young "super stars" have had it really bad during the course of their lives; trying to reconcile that super-stardom with "reality". When their starlight starts to dim, they experience rejection and their lives are turned upside down.





Although she wasn't known for singing for the glory of God, her music is still a testimate to our humanity in all it's imperfections and vunerabilities. Perhaps if she sang about finding love and sent people in the wrong direction looking for it, I just see it as an extention of our own personal romantic tragedies, and most of us have them. I still see it as honest. And coming from a person who herself might have had a tragic romantic experiences, it's all the more honest.





But we make the mistake sometimes of personalizing these beloved artists as though we truly know them when it's more like an infatuation than a real love. It's a natural thing having music so ingrained within our culture. We become intuned to passionate expressions that we can all relate to and thus embrase the expressions as though we're embrasing the artist themselves.



To me the sensationalism of it all also becomes a problem when you become infatuated with an emotion rather than a "real" thing. It's almost like "loving love" ... It might sound sweet but in all honestly, it doesn't make any sense.



I think our love for the arts also produces a lot of this sensationalism when we find ourselves becoming over- emotional about non tangible things. I think it's the same mentality that a lot of artists live in and it gets mentally consumed by their fans.



I think this "un reality" can be dangerous and deceptive and although I can relate to popular music and how it has affected my life and past experiences, I can now intellectually disect those emotions from the true reality and understand the difference.

WE MUST PROTECT OUR CHILDREN

Interview Offers Glimpse Into Killer's Mind - ABC News


It's everywhere... everywhere we read, every channel we surf, every search engine...

More and more news of depraved acts being commited. It's intensifying despite the argument that the increase is due to more media outlets. Forget that and Do believe the hype!

The same media that'll deny the causation of greater depravity because of secularization is the same media that'll try and convince you... " It's just " normal " or that our society isn't experiencing a decrease in morality. With the proliferation of violence in our music and our movies; the irradicaton of the respect for human life; our dislocated standards of our family values... etc., etc., etc.

If one can't see it, it's because one doesn't want to. Denial is a powerful thing.

(click on the above title link) to read yet another sad, sad account of an evil child predator who so casually could destroy the life of a innocent 7 year old, Jorelys Rivera and then hang himself in prison.

Again, another one who jumps from the frying pan right into the fire of eternal hell.


Romans 12:9 ".. Hate what is evil ".

Mark 10:14 ... " When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. "

Spanking kids can cause long-term harm: Canada study

Spanking kids can cause long-term harm: Canada study



Proverbs 13:24

" He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him early. "


Notice how this controverial topic is brought up stating that 80 studies demonstrate that diciplining children can cause harm to them. The article doesn't list how this evidence was collected or examples or descriptions of evidence to this effect. We'll just have to look up these studies and read up on them ourselves to get more necessary information because the article fails to. Also, the article doesn't make the distinction between what is defined as corporal punishment, its intensity, frequency nor does it mention childrens' ages, etc.

In college, I remember my psychology professor told me that he did not believe in spanking his children. However, he told his students the story of a particular day when his young son ran ahead of him into traffic despite his calling out the young boy's name. The boy decided not to stop and ran across into traffic almost getting hit by cars. My professor told us that he had to spank his son and the reason he gave us was that he could not take the chance of that ever happening again. He later made sure he explained to his son why he spanked him. If ever his son tried crossing the street without his father again, it would almost certainly mean him getting run over by a car. The "next time" could indeed be the last time.

In a society where parental disobedience and the negative societal influences of drugs, individualism, selfishness and indifference plagues our families, taking away a parent's right to use discretion on how to use discipline on their own kids is practically like letting our kids be raised by a pack of wolves.


(Click on the above title to read the full article)

Killers getting younger all the time:

Is this 15 yr old the face of a demon-like killer?  It was for her 9 year old neighbor whom she stabbed, strangled and slashed her throat, and then hid her body in the woods.  Afterwards wrote in her journal that it was an "ahmazing and pretty enjoyable experience" after heading off to church.  She is now serving a life sentence for the murder.   And just like a lot of young thrill killers recorded, she   just wanting to know what it felt like to kill someone.

Where are they getting this from?  Are they insane?  Most aren't.  Somewhere, somehow, I believe they're influenced to do stuff like this and the legal repercussions isn't ever enough to stop them.  Moral repercussions? ... They don't seem to have any morals to begin with.   Common sense must beg the question, "What is it in these young lives that awakens the curiosity about comitting such a hanious act"?  Where did they learn such insensitivity to another individual?   If we're honest and respond normally to our own conscience and convictions, I believe common sense itself takes us to the real answers.    Yet psychologists and even crimminologist can only come up with theoretics and fanciful speculations in behavioral and organic cerebral studies, etc.and have you looking like a dog chasing his own tail. 

(Click on the above titled link to read the full story)

A personal Devotional

God's love and blessings are overwhelming.


Can you see how blessed we are on all levels so that we could get closer to God and have thanksgiving in our hearts so that it comes out of our thoughts, then out of our mouths every single day and at the end of each day.

 "In everything, give thanks unto the Lord". That's what the Bible says and it's true. When you're truly thankful, you give thanks in everything and for everything.


When you're thankful for "everything", you can't find time to complain and peace fills your heart.



When that time of grief comes, when that time of loss comes, you have something to look back at and recognize that you can find room to accept some grief and some loss in light of the more abundant blessings that have been bestowed upon you.




Thanksgiving produces faith and faith produces strength and strength produces peace and peace produces praise and praise produces joy. And these are the fruits of the spirit  of God that become the character of Christ that ultimately makes one a Christian.



All praise to God Amighty in the highest.