Wednesday, July 8, 2015

GTOC Blog #61 100 Voice Documentary, The written Journey commences July 9th 2015

Have you ever entered a grade school and wondered how many of the kids had breakfast that morning; lunch that afternoon; supper before bed?
Have you ever entered a high school and wondered how many of the youth were going home to empty houses?
Have you ever paid attention to the kids on the street, thought any of these things or did you hold your wallet/purse tighter?
Have you ever stopped and looked at your own beautiful child and wondered if anyone ever wondered these things about them?
Did your child have breakfast this morning?  Does your child know what a condiment sandwich is?
Did your child often come home to an empty house because you had to work more than one job? 
Did your child ever wander the streets looking for you worried if you could make it home safely?
Did you ever look at your child with an exhausted love knowing you would give anything in the world for their lives to be better and notice they were looking back at you with that same exhausted loving look?
Do you remember the day a wild turkey landed in your back yard and you reached for the ax to kill it because you hadn’t fed your kids in a few days, knowing you would bite its freaking head off if necessary, even though you were deadly allergic to it and then you collapsed with starvation and exhaustion before completing the desperate thought? [1]
In the world today,
·         21,000 children die every day on average = 7.6 Million children per year, every year. [2]
·          “…a single parent who's just scraping by and has little time, energy or skill for parental duties and might have children who are at risk for a variety of problems.” [3]
·         About one-fifth of children live in single-parent households. United States (27 percent), the United Kingdom (24 percent), and New Zealand (24 percent).Many European countries have projected the proportion of children living with single parents to grow through 2030.”  [4]
·          “Of white children born since 1980 in the US, about 50% will spend some part of their childhood in a single parent family. For black children the proportion is about 80%. [5]
·         “Fatherlessness is one of the greatest social problems in Canada.”  [6]
·          “Parental alienation is a disorder that arises primarily in the context of child-custody disputes. Its primary manifestation is the child's campaign of denigration against a parent, a campaign that has no justification. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parents indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the target parent. The alienation usually extends to the non-custodial parent's family and friends as well.”  [7]
·         24 million children (34 percent) live absent their biological father, Nearly 20 million children (27 percent) live in single-parent homes. [8]
This is general overview of the stats on our children.  Children we have sworn to protect, that don’t have a chance based on the 1 in 4 stat of the issues they will face due to family breakdown.  Now I am angry!  I have 4 children.  Which one will I give up to these percentages?  I exclaim a resounding “yes” to every single question at the beginning of this rant.  Do you ever walk down the street saying, “there’s a statistic waiting to happen” and feel nothing except contempt for the persons who brought them into this world?  What about that child/youth/adult that never had a chance in our system because of our laws?  We are the ones that voted in these laws.  We created those statistics.  I am part of the “we”.  I am also part of the percentage that wants to change our children’s statistics and there is a part of me that is angered of fighting with the world to step up and be human! 
I am angry because my fellow humans abandon their own children, because these children statistically don’t stand a chance to succeed, because these children are our adults of tomorrow, if they survive.
I am angry because they are the innocents; we make them suffer for our egos; I am part of the “we”.
I am angry because everyone is so busy placing blame, they don’t take responsibility for their role where the answer is to be human, to continue as a race, to ensure our world is okay, to stand up, to convince the world to invest in the solution that should have never been a problem and no matter how hard I try, statistically one of my four children won’t make it.
We live in Canada.  Canada is the land of the free and the brave.  Where are our children?  Where are your children?  Which child are you willing to give up to the statistics of our world?  How much are you willing to save that child, any child? Ask me how to make change happen.  I have an idea.  That is my message.
The child needs to speak; because we single parents statistically can’t get it right for their futures.  The system works against us.  It is the child that will change the system.  Let’s afford them the voice we are too chicken shit or exhausted to give. 
The child needs to be heard; 100 Voices Documentary is only the beginning through empowering our youth to express their experiences in poverty due to family breakdown and ensure they are listened to.  There are 24 million voices yet to go.  We have to start somewhere.  I want to be a part of the solution that will ensure I don’t have to decide which one of my four children won’t make it.   I want to stop being included in the uselessness of the “we” and support the power inside of the “them” that will prove to the “system” that change must be made, for all our futures.  It is time to listen to our youth; let’s set the right example; they will one day rule our world.  Be a part of the solution, support 100 Voices Documentary.


Interpolation
[1]I am asked to attend workshops to discuss methods of alleviating poverty because I am usually the only person in the room who has lived the role and is able to vividly express a moment in the thoughts of an impoverished single mom.  “Did you see that 5 year old kid on the street with the curly floppy hair that no one has cut in the past 2 years, on his skooter, and when you look around him you see no one is actually paying attention to his wellbeing, and he smiles this huge smile at you like he’s got the world by its star fired tail, he is filthy, but his smile shines on his stumped teeth that will one day make him ugly, but you see the smile in his bouncy sky blue eyes and wonder if there is hope for him, yet his baby sitter is stoned on her front porch, dreaming off into a non-existent world, because this was probably the only babysitter that mother could afford because these damn theatrical vultures know the vulnerability of a single mom and instead of stopping to chastise her to ensure the safety of this beautiful young boy with no future, you race home, because one job just ended and the other will begin soon and his firey blue eyes burn into your soul reminiscent of your own child awaiting your comforting safety before you walk out the door again to the second job that just might pay for food this week?”
Sources
[2]"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. Web. 8 July 2015. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats>.
[3]"Does Single Parenting Affect Children? - HowStuffWorks."HowStuffWorks. Web. 8 July 2015. <http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/family/parenting/single-parents/single-parenting-affect-children.htm>.
[4]"World Family Map 2014." World Family Map 2014. Web. 8 July 2015. <http://worldfamilymap.org/2014/articles/world-family-indicators/family-structure>.
[5]"Absent Fathers Linked to Economic Pressures." Absent Fathers Linked to Economic Pressures. Web. 8 July 2015. <http://www.unicef.org/pon96/inabsent.htm>.
[6]"Canadian Children's Rights Council - Conseil Canadien Des Droits Des Enfants." Fatherlessness in Canada, Statistics, Fatherlessness Children Studies. Web. 8 July 2015. <http://www.canadiancrc.com/Fatherlessness/Fatherlessness_in_Canada.aspx>.
[7]"Canadian Children's Rights Council - Conseil Canadien Des Droits Des Enfants." Parental Alienation Syndrome, PAS, Parental Alienation in Divorce, Children's Rights, Canada. Web. 8 July 2015. http://www.canadiancrc.com/Parental_Alienation_Syndrome_Canada/Parental_Alienation.aspx>.
[8]"Statistics." The Fatherless Generation. 6 Apr. 2010. Web. 8 July 2015. <https://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/>.

No comments:

Post a Comment