A Penny For Thought

Mood: Thoughtful
Listening to: TV

Why do parents keep their children away from the truth?

There are parents out there who would rather their children think that HIV/AIDS doesn't exsist.They'd rather their children focus on not getting pregnant.So many parents keep their children out of sex ed classes because they are afraid of what they may learn.These parents are only harming their children.

I can remember a time when my best friend and I would talk about sex and the shows we watched on TV the night before and our other friends would look at us as though we had lost our minds.Their parents didn't allow them to watch anything with profanity or a mild sex scene.What I could never understand is why they didn't want their children to watch it with them and then explain what they were watching rather than have their friends who may or may not have their facts straight teach your child everything that they know.

I don't understand the fear that parents have when real life comes into play.I don't understand why parents would want their children to be so ignorant to the world and everything that is going on around them.

My parents hid nothing from me and I am a 20 year old college student working on my degree in Psychology,I don't have a child on my hip,and I don't have a man manipulating me.When you hold my life up next to the now adults who grew up with me but were never in the know I'd say some of them got the short end of the stick.So again I ask:

Why do parents keep their children away from the truth?

Mood: Thoughtful
Listening to: TV

It's funny how things change but it's funny how they stay the same.I can remember thinking that rap and R&B were the only thing worth listening to.I felt like there would never be anything else worth listening to.

Now I'm a little more open my music interest range from rap,R&B,Jazz,Soft Rock, and oldies.I've changed in a major way and I know that there are a lot of other people out there who have noticed the change in themselves.

What I watch on TV has even changed now,I don't only watch music videos trying to learn the latest dance steps and the hottest song out.I'm now more open to what is out there,I'd much rather know about what can harm me and what can help me rather than how to shake my ass.

So you see the more things change the more things stay the same.A lot of things have changed about me but I am still the same person just a little wiser.

Mood: Sleepy but thoughtful
Listening to: I Love Lucy

When we were children and were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up and we were confident in our answer.We all knew exactly what we were going to be when we grew up.As children we didn't think that anything could get in the way of our dreams.Babbies,love,and money never even factored into our plans,it was just going to sort of happen.So here is the question:

Are you where you thought you'd be at your age?

Mood: Ready To Debate
Listening to: TV

So when I wrote the entry titled Inmate Love I didn't really expect much of a response because I was just running off at the mouth.But someone did bite and I can't say that agreed with what he said.

 For someone to say that Prisoners should only be allowed to speak to each other is just a crazy comment.Why shouldn't you we give them a second chance?I do believe that you are a little biased since your father's house was robbed after he hired someone who was in prison.But you can't look at that situation and place every person who has ever stepped foot in prison into that box.This is where I become a little biased.Some of my family members have gone to prison gotten out and turned their lives around.They were given a second chance and they made the best of it.If the people who hired them thought the way that you do the few that do want to change would never get any where.If it weren't for second chances we wouldn't have half of the singers, rappers,actors,etc.That are around now.

A perfect example of someone getting a second chance is singer song writer Lyfe Jennings.I admire this man,he went to jail for ten years for arson.While in prison he used his time wisely and educated himself,he wrote songs,he sang.When he got out he went on to the Apollo Theatre and won everytime.Now he is a platium selling artist and his CD's have some of the most pwerfull I've ever heard. 

A lot of Urban Novels are written by men and women in prison,Some have even gotten out of prison and started writting novels.They are some of the best selling authors around.So my point is if you give them a chance there is that possibility that they will take advantage of it and succeed.Most of them succeed because of that hustler maintality that they picked up on the street.I have to admit I get upset when I see the street hustler doing his thing on the street and being successful at it.I get angry because they could be using their smarts to succeed in the corporate world but like my favorite quotes says:

"Sometimes you stand on the edge of a cliff just to jump, and sometimes you jump just to see what it feels like to fall."                                               

                                                        -Unknown

Why turn your back on someone when you can make a difference? Don't get me wrong,not everyone is trustworthy but some are.We just have to open our eyes and choose wisely who we allow into our lives.Now there is something that I agree with you about.When you talked about hiring someone who may have gotten out of prison but keeping them away from your personal possesions.I agree with that, just because you give them a second chance doesn't mean you have to be stupid about it.

I may not be able to sympathize with an ex-con but I will always emphasize with them.Women who fall for prisoners don't necessarily like outlaws,it can be a number of things that make them turn to those who are in prison.Some of the women open their eyes and see what closed minded people won't allow themselves to see.So like I said before,let's not throw all ex-cons into the same box,it's not fair.