My heart is so heavy.  There is so much going on in my city, in our country, in our world.  So much violence and killings.   With the recent murders of two babies one 5 and the other 3 I really wonder how far #livesmatter is really reaching.  Is this just another hashtag and people, well these cowards doing the shootings, don’t really realize what that means.  Well, I’m here to tell you, MY KID’S LIVES MATTER!!  Their lives matter to me.  See the people who are picking up these guns and doing random shootings may not understand that when I gave birth to my children it was not intended for their target practice.  I have hopes and dreams for my children.  They have their own hopes and dreams.  I’m a 100% sure that those don’t include being shot up at the park, grocery store, front porch, school, while playing outside, or sitting in a car.  From the day that they were born I knew it was my job to protect them.  It’s one of my divine purposes, so I feel.  I provide them with the necessities of life, groom them to be productive members of society, and plant seeds that I would love to see blossom in them.  I know I’m not the only parent that does this.  All for some jerk to decide one day he/she doesn’t like so and so, or so and so dissed (do kids still say this?!) him/her and snuff out my child’s life.  MY KID’S LIVES MATTER.

We are planning funerals for our babies instead of determining what schools to send them to, their first dance, going off to college, first job, their wedding day.  Do you realize some of us may never see these events take place?  It breaks my heart to think that these children never saw the first day of kindergarten.  WHO THE HELL DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE?!  Don’t they see the potential in these babies, don’t they see a future for these babies, my God don’t they see any of this for themselves?!  As these questions swirl through my mind I’m reminded of a conversation I overheard while waiting in parking lot, two young men obviously upset ready to retaliate for whatever injustice they felt had befallen them:  “I’m ready to die!” “We all gotta die someday!”  “I don’t give a f**k, it is what it is!”  Lord knows I know we all are going to die someday, but where did these children get the mentality that their lives are not worth living.  I learned a few weeks later it’s from us.  I overheard (yes I ear hustle) two adult men having the same conversation (IDIOTS!).  Why, why doesn’t your life matter to you?!  Where did we as a community, parents, schools, or leaders go wrong?  I know some will say I’m raising mine right, these kids are out of control and so are their parents.  It’s true you can barely speak to some people without them giving you attitude.  But we have to start somewhere.  We can’t keep watching the news and seeing children die at the hands of these morons.  We have to do something.  Sometimes it feels like there are only a few of us out there who want to be responsible.  I know this is not true, but where do we start.

It starts at home.  Pray, pray over your children’s lives and the lives of their friends and families.  Find ways to have conversations with your children about the people they hang out with and what’s going on in the world around them, sometimes we as parents don’t see everything.  Stop flipping out, use constructive ways to re-direct behaviors, this will be hard for some because let’s face it not all children take constructive criticism well, but so what love on them anyway.  The problem may not be in our homes but you never know who is watching you or your child’s behavior and you may have a positive effect on their life.  WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!  MY KIDS LIVES MATTER!