Let’s talk about causes. I’ve got mine. Hunger, racism, kids. Don’t know why these are more important to me than some others. Don’t know why I am more willing to do something about some of them and not so much about another. There are reasons, none of them good, for that. There are kids, however, who do or say things not because they have a reason, but because they don’t really see other options.
Mostly I mean kids who grow up in poverty but I am also talking about kids with just one parent. I’ve said it before, people, you do not want to get the parent-to-child ratio seriously wacked out. One parent to two or three kids is a mess. Hell, a night of one on one does me in. For a parent who doesn’t have the luxury of working just one job? Forget about it.
“It” of course being “a child.” When a child, especially a child living in poverty, doesn’t have someone to help him or her chart a path in life, she or he might never even know a path could exist. What they need is a big brother. Or maybe a big sister. Someone who can help them see the world and the possibilities it holds. Someone who they know will care about them for the long haul. Someone who can help them get started on something.