God Knows Best……

The older folks use words of wisdom to bring comfort by saying, “God never makes a mistake…” Sometimes we easily accept these words of comfort and other times it makes us absolutely bonkers!

However, I do believe there is some truth to their simple yet effective remark. Deep in my heart I always knew God had his reasons for not making me a mother. With all the craziness that is going on in society, I know that I would probably be on the 6:00 o’clock news every evening ranting and raving about some injustice. We as adults, are able to defend ourselves, and put people in their places when necessary. But children are so innocent, and most of the times clueless to what is happening around them.

For instance, most minority children are becoming an endangered species, a large percentage aren’t even reaching the age of 21. They are being cut down in the prime of their lives. Bright futures being demolished instantly. The strange thing is, it is not just happening in the inner cities, it is happening in lavish neighborhoods as well. Parents are losing their children to gun violence, drugs and careless actions. It is becoming a nationwide epidemic.

Our society has become so segregated that if at anytime one of our children accidentally wonders into places unknown and they happen to be a minority, they could be faced with all types of harm and danger. The times are becoming precarious for minority youth.

Today being the parent of a child is another career within itself. You have to be on task about every single thing, nothing can be taken for granted. Because the moment you stop paying attention people die. Literally. Going to school is no longer a single act of wanting a better future. It has become a lesson in navigating the jungle. Kids have to worry about being bullied all the time. Bullies aren’t even as mild mannered as the old days. No, they are ready for all out warfare with guns, knives and whatever weapon is gauche.

As a parent, when you are sending your kids to school nowadays you have to hug and kiss them as if they are going off to war because you may never see them again. The Newtown Massacre for instance, these little ones had no idea it would be their last day on earth. That crazed lunatic got up and decided on  that fate filled October morn, he was going to have his killing spree day, without any remorse, he just ended those effervescent lives in a split second.

When I sat there and watched the horror unfold, I put myself in those parents shoes for a brief moment. I imagined myself going to the school asking for my children, and then they tell me the principal is “indisposed”, then they never find the Principal and have a hard time producing the children. From the time they told me the principal was “indisposed”, everything would have escalated to AMBER ALERT and ORANGE ALERT!!!!

At that point, they would have to call the clergy, the shrink, the FBI and perhaps the National Guard, because I would definitely find it very difficult to be calm. There are no amount of tranquilizers for a tragedy such as this. My dilemma doesn’t end there, because I have the daunting task of breaking the news to their father…”Guess what? I didn’t lose the kids at the mall…nor did I shrink them while doing the laundry, but, they were assassinated at school.”

I am sure he would think that I was off my rockers or my imagination was running away with me. Either way, life as we both knew it would be over.

I was amazed how these parents took the tragic news so calmly, I am sure they had their moments behind closed doors. As a Jamaican-Asian woman,  there would be no plausible explanation for that incident.

This is why I am a staunch advocate of homeschooling. Although the Newtown  teachers did a terrific job at protecting the children, I think there would have been closure for the parents knowing, if they had the opportunity to be present, it would have boiled down to the perpretrator  shooting through them to get to their children or physically prying them from their hands.

Any mother can attest to the motivation they have when it comes to their child or children. I once read in a magazine where a mother moved a car that weighed several tons to save her toddler. When it comes to their children, mothers are like lions, fierce and bionic. Something just snaps within them and they become Super Heroes.

During my time growing up, I have seen moms warp into sumo wrestlers, javelin throwers, and creatures with extra sensory powers just to protect their children. If I was the mother of a child I would always ask “Why?”

They could explain away to me until the cows come home, but, it would never make sense. My days would be spent writing to Congress, calling the President, until I probably would have to start paying tuition for myself at their school. I would end up being a constant fixture. So, for everyone involved, it would just be best that they were homeschooled.

My own career would have to play second fiddle to whatever was happening in their lives, so I would need to have a pretty flexible schedule. I don’t know how parents today deal with all the drama and ring around the rosey, and are still able to maintain some form of normalcy. It is just commendable.

The incompetency that oftentimes take place when your children are not in your presence is really enough to disrupt every aspect of life. In my life, I truly felt that God never made a mistake because my blood pressure would be escalating every single day trying to put the kibosh on the unfair happenings in  my child/children’s world.

Although children are a blessing from God, I much prefer the role of being a spectator.