ALL CHILDREN DESERVE TO KNOW THEY ARE SPECIAL
By Jennifer Angellatta-Moore
What do you usually think of on Monday mornings? Some of us like to remember how much fun we had over the weekend. Some of us have too much fun and end up calling in sick, while others are already busy planning how they're gonna get to the Y2K show that night. I used to have those kind of thoughts too. But now my Monday evening plans have changed from paying cover charges and making trips to the bar, to sitting in folding chairs and buying my daughter Gatorade. Monday night for me means youth basketball.
For the past six weeks, I have been running my daughter around in a frenzy. Sunday night is basketball practice, Monday and Wednesday are game nights, on Tuesdays we go to track and basketball practice both and Thursday nights, we spend time with a tutor. Do I love stress? No, but I love my daughter.
I would have never imaged 10 years ago that I would have traded the go-go for Girl Scouts, but in my opinion, it's the right thing to do. As I sit and watch the news, tears well up in my eyes as I see the pictures of children committing senseless crimes, and others being killed. As I look at them, I can't help but think "why?" but I already know the answer. So many of our children today feel like they have no future. I know because I once felt like that myself. While everyone around me was going buck wild in high school, I stayed out of trouble because I thought I was going to college and I really wanted to be a teacher. Once graduation rolled around, I found out that there had never been any money for college. My parents had no interest in school. I felt like they didn't bother because they didn't believe in me. There was no point in striving to do good when it was apparent that it wasn't going to make a difference, so I developed an "I don't give an eff attitude".the very same attitude that so many children carry around with them now. It was only the grace of God that saved me from ending up like some of my friends.a headline in the paper or a 20 second spot on the 11:00 news.
The day my daughter was born, I decided that she wouldnever experience the hopeless feeling that I had only a few years before. I made a promise to her that I would always believe in her and I would always be involved. That means that I go to every teacher's conference, and every school concert (no matter how bad it sounds.) I know her teachers and the kids in her classes. Some people tell me that I do too much, but I want her to know that she can do anything she wants.
She has done basketball, track, cheerleading, tae kwon do, Girl Scouts, and volunteer work with me changing my schedule to meet hers. I am hopeful that the investment of my time now will show in the next five years. My prayer is that instead of hanging around the corner store, she'll be at a Girl Scout meeting. When her friends are drinking at a party, she won't because she won't want to get put off the team. Or if some kids from school drive by in a stolen car, she won't get in because she knows that she has a future and would never take a risk that big.
It sounds cliché, but all children deserve to know that they are special. We can build children, or we can repair men. What would you prefer?
