This isn't a response to the Stop Kony video. I haven't even seen the video that has gone viral in the last few days thanks to Twitter and Facebook publicity; my wi-fi data limit would never survive me watching a 30 minute You-Tube video. And as interesting and debate worthy a topic as I'm sure it is, it's not worth me being cut off from the Internet for the remainder of my billing cycle, sorry.
No, this blog is just something I happened to start thinking about randomly tonight. If I could change anything I wanted to to make the world better, how would I go about doing it? That's not something we really think about seriously very often, because realistically it's not going to happen. I mean, I'm never going to be able to just yell over to the middle east and go 'Hey yall! Stop this fighting! Do you want me to call your mama?!' Seriously, it would take a minor act of God to stop that mess. I say minor, because all it'd take is one or two angels and BAM, there'd be a greasy spot where a few of those countries used to be.
But here's a list of the things I came up with if I magically could have my world-changing wishes. Some things are big, some are really small, but I think they'd all be significant to at least a few people:
1. Establish much better guidelines to a few of our more taken-for-granted privileges:
Parenting - Sometimes I really do think you should be required to have a license to become a parent. I am not a parent, not yet. I hope to have the chance someday, much farther down the road. Even so, some things about the concept are so simple even I can't miss them. You're the parent, that is your child. You are supposed to love that child more than anything in the world. That means you give up things for it, including your 'partying days'. You can't go out every night until almost dawn and leave your baby at home with a sitter. You can't expect Mama and Daddy to take over for you as parents until you grow up yourself. You can't have an iPad and new tattoos every month and take vacations while your kid needs new shoes. You can't raise a child and pay bills just working your part time job and spending the rest of the day ill because your kid cries to watch her favorite movie instead of Jersey Shore. Grow up, take responsibility, and love your baby like God intended for you to when He blessed you with it. There's a ton of people that would jump at the opportunity you have to love a child.
Welfare - I'm a 22 year old college graduate. I've been looking for a job for several months now with no luck. I had to move back in with my parents after college because I knew I couldn't afford rent for an apartment, much less other bills, with no salary. It ticks me off when I go places like the Health Department and see someone getting their seven kids free school shots, and them playing on an iPad. Or someone loading up their brand new Escalade at WIC. Or someone paying for groceries with their food stamps and EBT, then turning around and shelling out a load of cash for half a buggy of beer and cigarettes. The way I was raised, unless it's from my immediate family I'm not going to ask anybody for monetary help unless I'm down to my last can of tomato soup and I know there's no way I'm going to be able to eat tomorrow. I'm serious, if you have the money for all that mess, you ain't really hurting then, are you?
2. Set the education system up so that everyone has four years of college for free in one of their state universities. This way, everyone has the opportunity to advance their education to at least a bachelor's degree. Nothing fancy, not Ivy League, but a bachelors degree would give everyone a fighting chance in the job market and at the very least advance our nation's learning curve. A lot of people in our nation have become ignorant of learning anything past high school on purpose, and we could go a long way in correcting that. I actually think if we started this ball rolling, it would greatly increase the number of masters and doctorate students and graduates we would have. Wanting to learn is very habit forming, once you've found something you're passionate about.
3. Move the age for purchasing tobacco/cigarettes up to 21. Around here I know I'd catch a ton of flack for that proposition, but it's a matter of personal opinion. I loathe smoking, cigarettes, anything involved with the whole process, and dipping is no better. I just think it's so disgusting and unattractive for a person to do, plus being about the worst habit you can have health-wise other than sky-diving sans-parachute. I know even if we moved the age to 21 kids would find ways around the rule, but I see no reason to make it easy for them to buy it at age 18.
4. Free healthcare to all college students. A big thing I saw in college was a lot of kids didn't go to the doctor when they got sick because they didn't have health insurance. Most kids if they were on a state healthcare stopped being covered when they turned 18 or 19 or when they moved out. If they got sick, they could rarely afford a visit to the Student Health Center or an Acute Care, plus shots and medicine. So they just stayed miserable and sick for a month or so until whatever bug they had finally moved on. (The most notorious friend for doing this is my friend Adam. He's awful about suffering through sickness.) If collegiates had access to free, or even cheap, healthcare I'm betting it'd knock the flu and mono percentages down significantly every year, especially in the dorm kids.
5. Make US adoptions easier and more affordable. Don't get me wrong, I know many people who have adopted babies and even older children from China, different parts of Africa, Korea, you name it, and they love their children more than anything. I know they wouldn't have their babies any other way. But there are so many kids in the foster system here that bounce around their whole lives just waiting for someone to come along for them. One of my cousins was adopted as a baby from here, and I know his parents had to go through years of red tape and paperwork and spend a world of money to make his adoption happen. They love him no less for that, probably even more than they would have if he would have been their flesh and blood, but it was quite a struggle getting him home with them. Another couple I know is just starting the adoption process for a US adoption, and they're struggling with how complicated it is. It seems to me like it should just be a matter of making sure they're amazing, loving parents, and matching them to a child that they love.
I myself have thought of one day adopting. If I ever did, I would want it to be from the US, and I'd want an older child, for several reasons. First, as noble as it is to adopt a child from somewhere across the world, I think I'd want to help a child close to home first, and I think it'd make the transition easier on both the child and the parents. Next, I'd want an older child because so often they're the ones who never make it to a permanent home. If they're not adopted by the time they're in school, chances are they never will be. It's like a puppy, they aren't cute and cuddy anymore so no one wants them. I'd want to give an older child that second chance that he or she might not get with anyone else. And last, even though I want kids of my own, I would love to adopt a child just so I could share that overflowing love that I know parents feel with someone who may have not ever felt a big ol' warm hug in their life before, or may have not ever had a story read to them before bedtime, all those childhood things we take for granted. I would love to be able to give that gift to some little boy or girl.
6. Eliminate the words 'fat' and 'skinny' from the English language. All my life, I've heard those words, both of them, used as some of the worst derogatory terms in our vocabulary. You can wound a girl quicker with one of those words than with most any of the other insults we use. And yes, skinny can be an insult too. As I grew up, I was on the lighter end of the scale. Not by choice, I have always had such a high metabolism that I couldn't gain weight even when I was trying, and most of my family is small boned and petite like me. But to hear the girls that were always dieting or worrying over their weight talk, boy was my being skinny a bad thing. It was like I deliberately tried to be skinny to torment them. Guys, let me give you some advice. Do not ever answer the question 'Do I look fat in this?' with anything except 'Babe, you look amazing in that.' Just go ahead and practice, because that is the only proper response to that question :)
7. This one is a personal hope of mine, and I hope it makes my children's world a little easier than mine was. My greatest hope for my children is that they have an amazing, fun, and 100% average childhood. I emphasize average there. I absolutely do not want my children following in my footsteps and making straight A+ grades. A's and B's would be great. In hindsight, my life would have been so much easier had I not started out as the smart kid, the nerd, and gotten that reputation. Maybe if I hadn't my middle and high school years would have been a little more fun and relaxed. I'm hoping for my children that they can go through school and not have kids make fun of them for being smart or eager to learn, that they can be more like the other kids than I was, and that maybe they'll have more of a memorable, well-rounded school experience. I think they'd benefit more from experiencing a little of everything, school, sports, arts, clubs, friends, the whole package, than they would just clamping down on the textbooks in the effort of trying to achieve that 4.0.
8. Totally cancel the entire genre of Reality TV. All of it, every show. It's beyond crazy, beyond stupidity, into something I think is called mindnumbing brain rot. I think it's the reason half the people in our country are going ape crazy retarded these days, they get their ideas off these nutball tv shows. I mean seriously, when you can make a tv show out of who does the best crazy hairstyles, or who has the most psychotic addictions, you know there is something seriously wrong in your brain.
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