A Silly Mistake?

Today I am troubled.  Yet, today I am grateful.

This morning at the gym as I looked up at the TV without audio, the stories were all told by pictures and expressions.  And I was troubled.  I was thankful I didn't have headphones to hear the 'rest of the story.'  

Why is the Today Show spending 10 minutes on a segment about the next drag 'race' queen? Seriously, people.  I know, God loves all of us.  He does.  But that doesn't mean He condones such behavior.  To RuPaul...c'mon, your plight is not normal.  YOU are not normal.  Don't bring that into the homes across America to try and make it seem normal or have America throw their values to the curb to embrace yours.  In my opinion, it's disgusting, it's amoral, it's practically porn.  I'm scared for 2009 'mainstream' values.

Michael Phelps?  For reals, what were YOU thinking?  YES, everyone is allowed to make mistakes.  We all have...  we will all continue to make mistakes.  But to hear the mothers on the treadmill next to me... these are the mothers of the children that my kids could go to school with.  So to the women next to me... it's NOT just 'no big deal.'  This is the modern-day superhero that our young children looked up to last summer.  We rooted for him, we tivo'd every race, we spent family time watching olympic history.  This is the man that inspired every little athlete and non-athlete alike.  I heard you two women sit there on your high horses  talking about how you hadn't tried that glass bong contraption before... but that marijuana is harmless.  And to just give the guy a break.  You sat there one minute talking about your 2nd graders latest project, and then the other minute encouraging Phelps he should just tell the world how much fun he had that weekend with his bong, but that he wouldn't do it again.  And  America's youth, America's families that supported this 'hero' should be OKAY with the AWFUL message this sends?  Our Wheaties guy?  Are you kidding me?  Where did you mothers come from?  Yes, he made a mistake and he will suffer those consequences, but no, 'it's not just okay.'  I'm scared for your kids.

To Tom Daschle & Timothy Geithner--YOU are the men that were appointed to high places to help lead this country to a better place?  Yet, YOU are men that cheated the very system you're supposed to protect? ...You evaded your taxes to the amount of SIX FIGURES... but won't be held accountable for it in the courts on high?  You won't spend time in the pen like others who didn't have strings to pull?  And we are expected to take your advice, follow your policy... you crooked men, you modern-day Gadianton Robbers.   And although President Obama insists he is troubled by all of this, he is still convinced that these are THE ONLY TWO men qualified enough to be in these high cabinet positions?  He still stands behind you through the lies and deceit?  The message I get from all of this is that as an American, I can rob, steal, plunder, evade taxes, break serious laws... and can admit I discovered a 'silly mistake,' not even so much as be slapped on the hand for all of it, and then be allowed to hold a high cabinet position?  I'm scared for our nation if these are our only 'qualified' men.   What happened to honesty and retribution before being 'caught' with your hand in the cookie jar?

Yet I am grateful.  I am thankful for my knowledge of a higher power and the power of a family.  That through these horribly awful times, that peace can prevail....peace in our homes, peace in our hearts, peaces in our lives. For me, great peace is found in the knowledge that what's truly important is the simple things we do inside the walls of our own homes.  Tremendous is our responsibility to safeguard the family unit.  To nurture a spirit of love and respect...and tolerance.  To guide them and protect them.  There is no greater responsibility than to teach those that have been placed in our care...all six of them.  And for this knowledge and power, I am humbled and I am grateful.  

I can turn off the TV; I can explain the behaviors of others and consequences that should follow. I can empower them to choose for themselves by experiencing little consequences.  But 'silly behaviors or silly mistakes' are not the kind that include tax evasion to the tune of six figures, illegal drug use, behaviors that break down the family unit and destroy what God created, or knowingly stealing from people to get gain.  No, those are not silly mistakes.  A silly mistake is forgetting your homework or taking a sharpie to the wall.  Those are silly mistakes.  Let's see things for what they really are, people.