This meme inspired me to share. I’m sure that many of us alive today survived much worse than what is depicted here. Many of us had to endure the cruel realities of a harsh poverty, illness, homelessness, or worse. People from my generation are probably accustomed to hearing phrases like, “well that’s life,” “suck it up and move on,” or “tears are for losers.” I come from a generation of children that learned emotional blackmail very early. Bullies learned very quickly what would make someone cry…and exploited it. Children learned very early to conceal their emotions…because emotions are weaknesses.
We survived all of it, but did we thrive? Through all of it, are we all good, emotionally available, honest people? I know that we’d like to think we are, but the truth is, we aren’t. We were never taught true empathy, true commitment, and true love because we were too busy hiding what we felt so it could not be used against us.
This meme implies that all of these harmful things should be normal in a child’s life, but is that really logical? Do we honestly think that it is logical to put our children’s lives on the line like this?
The job of every parent is to make life a little better for the next generation. I’d like to think that, as parents, we’re succeeding. Parents, in general, are far more conscious about what is best for their child. Parents today are far more likely to research foods, healthcare options, schools, and other things related to their children than parents were just a generation ago. So many parents today understand a child’s need for free choice and independence–something that was nearly nonexistent when I was growing up. As soon as our government starts caring about our future as much as our parents do, we’ll be set.
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