The silent epidemic Part One

When I got my driver's license, my mom was the happiest.  I instantly became the gopher. Daily, I would go pher this and go phor that.  One of my daily rituals was to go to Fatura's Supermarket.

One particular day I had a list, remember no cell phones, an old fashioned list, usually the pad from the milk man.  On the list was Baker's unsweetened baking chocolate, buttermilk (small size) and something else.  And remember, no debit cards, always had to watch the money because she sent me with cash.  Well this one day, I guess I wasn't my effervescent self  because I was so worked up over the unsweetened baking squares that I didn't ooooze all over my mom's friend. I spoke, was obligatory but moved on.  I finished the  grocery trip and got home.  What was waiting for me there was the Biggest ass reaming ever!  Why?  "I knew better, that was a reflection on the way I was raised, you always speak to an adult, you know that is my pet peeve and people expect more from you...blah blah blah." Seriously, I spoke to her.  Blame it on the chocolate, sweetened, unsweetened and semi sweet.  It can hang a girl up.  I will never forget my mom and how upset she was about the incident.  Translation, Kids need to be respectful of their elders.

For years now, I have been checking teenage wrestlers for ringworm.  Now, in case you are not up on your wrestling, wrestlers get ringworm.  Something about the bodies being pressed down on mats and that little worm popping up off the mat and unto a body.  I personally think that if you ask someone to check their body ringworm, regardless of where it is, your relationship is on a new playing field.  Just saying, it is me. Since the "incident" this summer, wrestlers sprint to get away from me.  Seriously, you would think they are track stars, they sprint.  These are mostly the same dudes that I spread their armpit hair to check for the worm.  They sprint.  When I mentioned it to the "button" he said, "Mom, they don't want to face YOU.  YOU know what they have been up too."  Hmmm, if my mom could get ahold of them....it would be something.

This spring, I discovered a little neighbor boy smoking pot in my backyard.  Now imagine, I am Shrek, he is Pinocchio.  I tell him, "caught you, don't do it again, you are too young to do this, and you surely are not doing it in my yard again, I am not going to tell your parents but if I catch you again, and now my radar is up, I will tell them.  This is your mulligan, use it           wisely".  Seriously, I would have been afraid of me.  I also would have built an underground tunnel so I never had to go by my house again. 

What did he do?  Great question.  I came home one night, broad daylight, loud music BLARING from my house, neighbors milling about, my little kids upstairs and this kid, along with two of his friends and the "button" was smoking pot on my back porch.  Yes, you read correctly.

To this day, if my mom says,"so and so is sick or died, send a card."  The next day there is a Hallmark in the mail.  I am afraid of my mom.  My grandparents, even more afraid.  My grandfather, who didn't say much, gave me great advice.  "Live so that when you die, you will never be embarrassed by what you are doing when you went."  Thirty-two years in the radio business, calling on strip clubs, never went. I could always see the headlines, "mother of three dies in strip club fire."

On the few occassions I have watched the trainwreck, Jersey Shore, I only thought of the grandparents.  I am sure that Snookie's grandparents are apalled.  There she is drunk, sucking face and rubbing uglies with some random drunk dude in a hot tub on television.  I truly beleive that when she walked down the aisle at her First Communion in that white dress that her grandparents never envisioned her being famous for rubbing uglies in a drunken stupor on cable television.

When Facebook made a few changes, the entire Planet went crazy.  Truth is, underage drinking is way up, binge drinking on campuses is so out of control that colleges are offering scholarships for abstinence from drinking, kids are smoking synthetic drugs and have kicked organic ones to the curb.  Spice and Bath Salt abuse is also through the roof.  Suicides are up as a result from Bath Salts.  If you check into rehab and you have smoked Bath Salts, mandatory one year visit.  Bath Salts and Spice are synthetic drugs, kinda of like smoking an empty milk jug.  Seriously, a milk jug or a porch rocker. Teenage pregnancies are up and so are sexually transmitted diseases. All of this is up, especially in the younger ages and it isn't mentioned.   Change Facebook and an entire Planet is in an uproar.

I too sat and watched the Amanda Knox verdict.  Love that she is home on American soil.  But I was stunned that nobody have ever really talked about the fact that there was a drug dealer involved.   While I wasn't there, I don't think they were knitting that night in Italy.  Still, nothing.

People have told me to get a grip, "we did the same thing when we were kids".  Really, I am calling bullshit on this one.  Yes, we had parties in fields, we smoked organic pot (I am pretty sure at this point my mother has passed out with what I just wrote) and we hid...we didn't want to shame our parents or OURSELVES.  We didn't smoke milk jugs, inhale Pledge,drink cough syrup or snort medicine.  And, I didn't have time or money to do any of this...my parents didn't provide anything but the bare necessities.  I learned early that a bag of pot was a pair of shoes.  Give me the shoes.

If a kid takes a car at 12 years old and drives, he is on You Tube and the news.  The kid who smoked pot on my porch was 13 and nobody wants to talk.  The swine flu breaks out and everybody wants a mask on their face.  A mask on their face but no condoms. 


We need to talk. We not to talk about Character and morals.  We need to teach respect to elders and authority figures. 
We need to talk to children.  They may or may not listen.  They may tune us out.  Nobody goes home and says, "think I will listen to the radio tonight and learn some lyrics.  It is a process.  Over and over and over again.  If you say it, they will lesson." And maybe they won't do what you taught them but you will feel better that you tried.