truth
A while back, the country made headlines for having a surge in underage pregnancies. The saddest thing was that some people found it funny and made jokes about these incredibly young parents, and for those who were not amused did what most people do best, and that is to lay blame on others. Be it the parents or the girl or both but rarely did you see anyone asking about the unborn child’s father. The truth of the matter is that we live in a highly sexualized world and that none of us are coping, both adults and our children; we are just hiding under masks, and whoever conceals best is thought to have everything in their life going perfectly. Therefore before we attack our children for not knowing better, let’s see or understand as adults where we went wrong. We all know what’s wrong, from the internet to urbanization to every other reason you can think of; however, I ask myself one question, how can we do better? This is because I am not a fan of victim-blaming.
The truth is that there is a huge communication gap between generations and that lack of information combined with the curiosity of teenagers and young adults has led to very many dangerous and unchangeable consequences which sometimes are fatal. One can argue and say that there are many campaigns worldwide even that talk about sex, sexuality, and even Planned Parenthood. However, the truth is that advice on such topics should come from those closest to us before it comes to the world, seeing as the same message can be interpreted differently when coming from different people. As human beings, we are evolving, but we need to ask ourselves, what are we becoming? We are killing the planet and our next generation due to our selfishness, and we cannot just stand by and let things be. This needs to be a joint effort. This can’t be only a girl child, or woman problem; it needs to be a human being’s problem and should be handled with love, understanding, judgment, and hate. The sad reality is that most of these underage girls will never step into a classroom again, which is the biggest threat because poverty will never end when there are many such dropouts.
As for these absentee fathers, they need to be asked, “what’s up?” because we all know them. They are our sons, nephews, brothers, uncles, cousins, and sometimes even our fathers. However, this question should not come from a place of hate or judgment rather should come from a place of wanting to understand what made them pick the choice of not being involved in their children’s lives and how they can be helped to remedy that. Parenthood is so complex and sometimes so overwhelming even when two people; imagine what it’s like for one person. Therefore these men/boys should stop getting away scot-free. Something needs to change, and it needs to change now. All these things come back to the family, the unit of society. We need to be more open and more HONEST with our children, but for that to happen, we need to start by being more honest with OURSELVES. We can only give what we have in plenty; therefore, let us fill ourselves with more love, honesty, wisdom. That is the only way we will be able to pour that into our children. It’s only too late when you’re dead. Start now.