When I was a kid, the most often heard phrase was, "I want a better world for my children." It was our parents' main goal to make sure that we had a great America in which to raise our children -- their grandchildren.
Nowadays, it's more likely to hear parents say something like, "I want health care. I want it now. I want the government to pay for it." The problem with that sort of thinking is that it's not good for your children to have to be burdened with the cost of your desires. That's like saying that you're horny so your child should have sex with you. Not a good idea.
Your children shouldn't be burdened with the cost of your desires. Not for health care, not for sexual satisfaction. And yet, more and more parents are demanding of their children the cost of the parents' desires. Whether those desires be for nationalized health care at an enormous cost to their children and grandchildren, or their parents' desire for "fullfilment" as the mother and father both trudge off to work daily as the child is raised by a multitude of babysitters and before- and after-school programs. If the parents' desire is to have "social justice", the child is stuck with a world in which he or she gets promoted even when not ready, leaving the child feeling panicked due to not understanding the work; or, on the other side, being not chosen for college due to another child's preferential treatment based on "social justice": the children pay the price, no matter which parent is dreaming of "social justice".
The children of today are paying the price of four decades' worth of parental selfishness. Since the sixties, parents have been into "peace, love and rock and roll", leaving the child to pay for the "peace" by not having a missile defense system or enough airplanes to defend them. The child paid first for the "love" because the child had no father in the home and it was "okay" to break social norms of the time and to raise a child without having a husband. "Okay for whom?" was never asked and the child grew up feeling different and intimidated, or followed Dear Ol' Mom and did the same thing and became sexually permissive and wound up presenting Mom with a grandchild to help raise because Mom put herself first, why shouldn't the daughter? Or, why shouldn't the son be sexually permissive, that's the way Mom and/or Dad were, so if it's good enough for them... They pay the price in rock and roll in learning what they live, not what they're told. If Mom and (or) Dad are into the kind of music that is infamous for the drug scene (Jimi Hendrix, etc. for the older generation; I don't know who for the younger), then that's the way the child will grow up. Don't expect your child to not impersonate you in most things, or at least in the big things. As long as they live it, they will learn it.
Nowadays, it's children having children because the parents are too busy working: parents putting their reputation for having nice things is more important to them than having a solid family where the child feels important and knows that Mom and Dad love them. I've heard parents say that they love their child and would do anything for them, but those same parents don't have time to sit and talk to the child who needs advice, who has a heart ache, who has been abused by someone -- all in the name of "I have to go to work, I'll see you later." What is more important? Your savings plan for your new car, or the fact that your daughter was just pressured into having sex with her boyfriend for the first time even though she's just thirteen?
Selfish parents think that a bigger, better, more world (bigger house, better car, more designer name fashions, etc.) is better for their children than a small house with an older car and Wal-Mart brands with Mom at home and Dad working to support all of them because they put their children first. It's no use blaming "the world we live in" because it wasn't the world who taught your children that it should be that way in the first place. It was you!
When you have children, it's your job to raise them, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them right from wrong, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them about sex, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them about God and your belief system, not someone else's and it certainly isn't someone else's job to tell them that they can't believe, either!
Putting your children first in this world means not only putting off that BMW until you are retired, but it means having the patience, determination and courage to do what is right for your children and their future and your grandchildren's futures in every instance and every decision you make. That's being a parent. Thinking of the "here and now" and only the "here and now" will do no good for your children's futures because they will be the ones paying the price for you thinking of only the "here and now".
Consider the fact that with health care, it will currently cost the average American family of four almost twenty thousand dollars a year for Pelosi's HR 3962 if the Senate agrees with it and this thing goes all the way through. Think of how much it will cost your children's average family of four in twenty years from now. We all know that the costs of government plans always go one way: UP. So how much will it cost your children when they're thinking of having children? It's estimated at almost twenty thousand annually now, how much more will it be in twenty years? Thirty thousand a year? Do you even make thirty thousand a year? If your child does, what will your child live on, buy food with, do for their children what they want to if all of their money is going toward this nationalized health care plan? How will your child survive? Obama won't be in office in twenty years. Pelosi hopefully won't be in office in twenty years. Who will do for them? You? Will you then pay the price for your current selfishness? If not, then who?
Are we to provide everything for your child via a government program? Is that how selfish you want to be? If that be the case, then what will your child have to pay in taxes in order to be able to have everything from the government? Or, what will your child have to do for the government in order for the government to be so magnanimous toward your child? Do you want your child to do without because you wanted health care now? Sounds to me as though your child will not only do without, but your children's children will, too. If your children have to pay thirty thousand a year for the health care system you wanted now, then how much more will their children pay? Fifty thousand a year? Sixty? Does that sound like a loving thing to do to your grandchildren?
I thought you were supposed to love them, take care of them, prepare for them, protect them, not burden them with your desires. Plan for your children and your grandchildren, not just the "here and now" or your grandchildren will be paying the price for your selfishness.
What will they think of a grandparent who burdened them with so much government debt that their economy is ruined and the cost of bread is twenty-five dollars a loaf? What will they think of a grandparent who made it impossible for them to go on vacations because they can't take time off of work due to their tax burden and the resulting economy? What will your grandchildren think of how you treated them and their futures when it didn't have to be that way? What will they think of you then?
Will they think that you made a mistake? Will they think that you were misled? Will they think that it's all the government's fault, or will they wake up to the fact that it was you who helped push this thing through and it was you who made their lives a miserable, joyless, slavish burden because their freedoms were gone via Cap & Trade, their banks were gone via government takeover, their health care took most of their pay and what wasn't taken via health care was taken in other taxes to pay for vehicle production and unions? What will they think of you as they work fourteen hour days to pay for your desires?
It's not right to be a selfish parent. It's not right to think of only yourself when you are trying to get something from the government. It's not right to think of just the "here and now". You must think of the future for your children's sake and stop thinking only of yourself and your desires.
You consider nationalized health care good for your children's futures? Not when you look at the big picture and the money involved. Not when you look at it objectively and unemotionally. It cannot be. Any time you add a burden to future generations for the satisfaction of the present, you are putting that burden on your children and making their debt to the government bigger each time. There's a number out there that is about $38,000 and is the amount of taxes each child will owe thanks to this administration's plans and deeds. That's not a very auspicious beginning for your child's future. Add to that the health care plans and it's even more debt already owed. When will it end?
In today's America, your child has the option to be whatever he/she wants to be. There have been people all across this land who started with nothing and rose to power, prestige, leadership positions, riches even because of their God-given talents, determination, drive and intelligence. They didn't rely on the government to get them there; they relied upon themselves. If they needed help, they went to family, friends and -- if nowhere else could help them -- the government as a last resort. People who dream big and aspire to be something can accomplish their goals and dreams in today's America. In tomorrow's America -- with health care, Cap & Trade, etc. -- that won't be even remotely possible. Why? Because no matter what aspirations your child may have in your selfish tomorrow's America, the government will have to step in and take most of their money, delineate what they can and cannot do because of Cap & Trade emissions laws, prevent them from living where they wish to live because a gopher turtoise was just found on the property's border and work will be the focus of their taxpaying lives.
All of this is the result of your selfishness; your "here and now", live for today attitude. To think that it could have all been prevented if you had stopped, thought about the future and thought about how it will effect your children and your children's children. To think that your children could have lived in a FREE America, instead of one that is burdened with debt, extreme environmentalist laws, and no hope for making it better, or getting out of it, all thanks to your selfishness.
I think your children deserve better. That's why I have my website, write this blog and encourage parents to have Mom stay at home with their children during their school years. Because it's selfishness that will bring about a worse world for our children, not a better world. Selfishness is demanding health care reform now so that you can feel better about yourself later. How you can feel better about yourself bringing all of that upon your children and grandchildren, I do not comprehend. But you will. My question is, will you even see what you have done as your child works so hard for your desires?
How selfish are you? Will you think of your children? Or will you say, "I want it and I want it now!"?
It's simple. Think of their future tax burden. Think of their lives and how they must live them in order to pay for your desires. How long will they have to pay for you? Wouldn't it be better to have just said, "No. I'll find a better way. I don't have to do that now."?
Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and Aunts and Uncles: do not burden the younger generations with your desires. Have mercy. Have mercy.
