Your Legacy is less about what you have than what you taught your children

Often we dream about what others will say about us when we are gone and what, if any, affect have we had on the world while we were here.  Many attempt to get their names in lights or on the tongues of many others who remain while there are some whose idea of making a difference is meddling in the affairs of others.  But what seems to be missed by so many who claim to be paying attention is the greatest lesson you can teach and the only real legacy you will leave is the education you have passed on to your children.

An example of this is an article titled “Beloit Police arrest two 12 year olds in Family Video robbery” posted by Mark Mayhew for our local station WREX.  In it he reports that “Beloit Police arrested two 12-year-old boys in a Sunday night robbery at the Family Video store on Henry Avenue.  The original report stated two black males displayed a handgun and left with cash.  Beloit Police were able to identify the boys and arrested the first one at his home at the 900 block of Copeland.  He is charged with armed robbery.  The second was arrested after a brief foot chase at the 900 block of Washburn.  He is charged with armed robbery also charged with battery and disorderly conduct in a Saturday disturbance in Beloit.  Both were taken to the Rock County Youth Services Center in Janesville.

So much can be said about this story but the most important of all is “where were the parents?”  How far gone are these kids that at the age of 12, they are out robbing with a weapon?  Is it because the parents were too caught up in themselves to see that what their kids were learning was not a good thing?  Is it because of this new craze where young girls seem to favor chasing after young thugs?  Is it because too many women are left to raise boys when they are no equipped to do so?  Simply put, no man can teach a girl how to be a woman just as no woman can teach a boy how to be a man.  These kids need the influence of both, whether they are living in the same house or not.  All women should first teach their daughters to respect herself first and foremost because if she does then any man she fancies will have to respect her too.  All men should teach their boys that how you treat others will be exactly how others treat you so if you want people to respect you, you must first and foremost respect them.  We are failing at this people and because we are not taking responsibility for this simple fact, our children are learning that they should not have to take responsibility for whatever they do.

Want to know why so many blacks are being singled out and killed by cops because we have failed to show them how to carry themselves and how to react to hostile forces which seems marshaled against them.  Instead we teach them to run, hide and don’t get caught.  Who is failing whom?  We teach them to hate others who are different from them instead of teaching them that those who are different provide us the greatest opportunity to learn more about ourselves.  That the greatest lesson in the world is not what you learn on the street but what you hear in conversations.  A weak man always pretends to be strong but a strong man will never let you know just how strong he is.