Thursday, June 9, 2016

Prayers for Micah



Micah Ahern went on the Kidd's Kids trip with us last year. I went to the Ahern home to chat with them before the trip and they made me feel right at home. Before I left, little Eden was running around in her undies. I'm pretty sure there was an argument over queso. Nolan told me that he wanted to make sure to take his "little friends" to WDW with him. He loves reptiles. Linda and Maurice just brought Micah home from five days of isolation in the hospital and they were telling me about the restrictions he had to follow. He couldn't share food or drinks with others in the house. He couldn't use the same restroom or snuggle with mommy or daddy if he had a bad dream. But the treatment he was doing seemed to be working, so it was worth the sacrifice.


Micah went in for scans the other day and it turns out that his treatments aren't working anymore. He's going to be put on hospice soon. His family is forced to face the likely possibility that they will lose their little boy to cancer.


It's always been in the back of their minds. Linda works in health care and isn’t naïve enough to think that Micah is invincible. But he’s been doing so well. This just sucks.


No matter how much time you have to prep for it, losing someone you love isn’t easy. Losing a child, though. The Ahern’s have four kids total, so there are three other kids that have to wrap their heads around the idea of losing a sibling. How does a parent possibly come to terms with any of this? I don’t know.

Here’s my thought. Maybe as quickly as Micah’s scans turned bad, maybe they can turn good again. Maybe through the power of a LOT of prayer things can change again. Miracles happen every day, don’t they? Why not make one happen for Micah? It’s worth a try.

Would you please take a minute and post this link to your page. Prayers for Micah. Keep a strong little boy keepin’ on. Send some love his way and maybe the power of love and prayer can prove to be stronger than the power of medicine. Maybe?



Tuesday, June 7, 2016

I shouldn't have gotten started


How long does it take to pull the trigger on a gun? Like two seconds? What about stab someone in the throat? Possibly ten seconds? The people on the receiving end of the actions that took a second or ten seconds might die. How long did it take for Stanford rapist’s dad to knock up the mom? Probably about 10 minutes on the occasion that it happened? And the dad thinks his kid is beyond punishment for 20 minutes of action. It's this kind of attitude that is ruining people. Seriously. We put them on a pedestal as though their action isn’t as bad as it would be had someone else done it. It’s not ok!

Do you ever take a second and ask yourself what in the world is wrong with people today? Why do we accept the things that we do from people? We truly live in a world where apathy has become acceptable and it’s awful.

You can’t get on the Internet right now without seeing something about the Stanford sexual assault kid. He got six months in jail along with two years probation. The judge said that anything more would have too big of an impact on him and that he’s not a danger to others.

This guy assaulted another person. She was unconscious and he took advantage of her in the most intrusive way possible. The victim now has to live knowing that this happened and that people get in more trouble for stealing a TV (in some states). Can you imagine how dehumanizing and devaluing this is to her? How this impacts her life? She was being raped behind a dumpster for God’s sake.

For anyone to say that their child should catch a break from the law because they can tell that they’re being punished enough because there are still snacks in the house should be on a watch list themselves. Something isn’t OK there. I’ve got VERY strong opinions about enabling people and it’s at the point that I’m probably about to say something I’m going to regret.

When you sit back and defend a bad person or allow them to do what they do, you’re just as bad as they are. They have no motivation to become a better person when they’ve always got someone there to hold them up. Think about potty training a puppy. Why do they learn to poop outside? Positive and negative reinforcement. You don’t give a puppy a treat when it poops in the house. Just like you shouldn’t stand by a horrible person when they do a horrible thing. You should have the back of the people who need you.

What’s this girl going to do if she ends up being pregnant after this guys 20 minutes of action? She has to deal with the consequences of her decision at that point. And the baby. Meanwhile, swimmer boy can dye his hair and go on about his business because he’s really good at a sport. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

I kind of laugh it off when people say that they would move to Canada if Trump or Clinton gets elected President, but after reading the comments from the public officials of the county this all happened in, I would probably feel inclined to move if I lived there. It’s crazy to me. Rape is rape. No question! Assault is assault! No question! Who cares about the effects it would have on the guy who did it! What about the victim? Let’s sympathize with a rapist and spread a message that absolutely should never be formed in the first place. What a complete disgrace.

What’s even worse is that given this ridiculously light sentence for a crime he’s been convicted of and was caught doing, this kid is appealing the sentence. I pray to God that Layla and Peyton learn to spot a bad man when they see him. I pray that Jacob follows his heart in life and chooses to follow the example of those who want the best for him. I’m curious where the victim’s father is? I’ve not even seen anything written anonymously from him. Or her mother. You better believe that my kid would have my support as loud as I could possibly give it.

I have so many things I would love to say about parenting and about things I don’t understand. Turning a blind eye just seems to be ok and blaming everyone else for your flaws seems to be the way to go. How is this even acceptable?

There are people in this world that are simply disgusting. I was watching Teen Mom last night and Janelle was on. My heart breaks for her kids because they are just screwed. There’s Janelle who says she wants to see Jace, but she does nothing to make it happen. It’s just a show that she puts on and it’s nauseating. I’m going to say that I want him and argue about drop off and pick up, but then I’m going to spend all my time with David and say that maybe he’s better with Barb because school has already started. I’m gonna use him as a tool to get revenge when mommy makes me mad. That’s all her son is to her. A tool.

Then there’s Adam who has every opportunity to see Aubrey, but he won’t do it. She has someone who wants her in his life and she wants to call daddy, but when that reality hits him, he rears his ugly head. Otherwise, he’s absent.

Disgusting.

What’s even more interesting to me is how these people find other people who want to be with them. Disgusting times two.

Why is it ever ok to allow someone feel like they hold little value? Especially when they’re supposed to be one of the most important people in your life? Who are you to take that feeling of value away from them due to your own selfishness? In the end, there’s no one to blame but yourself.

I can’t change the way that the world works. It’s my hope that when I die, someone feels like there’s a loss because I made this a better place while I was here. It’s so dumb, but I get angry when I’m flipping through the stations and I hear that Luke Bryan song “Huntin, Lovin, and Fishin.” All I can think about is, “That’s ALL you’re going to contribute to the world?” Seriously? Then I come up with this dialogue in my head about who would want someone who comes home sweaty, smelling like dead animal and fish everyday, broke as a joke, and probably drunk because they drink beer in the heat all day long. I get SO MAD! I hope that they would dump his or her ass.

Anyway, sorry about that. Somehow it all goes together in my brain. I hope that the Stanford swimmer douche goes back to court with a different judge and gets prison. Let’s see what that does to his preppy boy appetite and what daddy has to say about it then.