If children are our future...

That's something I have always heard since young. "You lot are the pillars of our future. You will be the leaders of tomorrow." Cliche as it might be, it did happen ok. I never did find meaning in those words, because I felt that nobody can shun the responsibility for their own future, young or old. But perhaps as I grew older, I started to feel what the sentences meant. It means filial piety, at the very least. Then it means that no matter how wise we view ourselves, the children nowadays will be the ones making the decisions in the future, and our lives lie in their hands.

I wonder what our future will be like. I just read an article on the NEWPAPER webbie, and it was talking about this ex-convict who returned home after six years, to find his ex-wife bringing home men every other night and his daughter sending him vulgarities via SMS (he paid for her HP with the money he earned in prison) and chalking up hundreds on the bill. And you know what, his daughter is in P6.

I must admit, I always am biased towards youngsters in relationships, having gone through the same sh*t myself in teenage years. Same, I'm against mobile phones etc etc for the children. Has our country expanded or become so unsafe overnight that your child, studying in your neighbourhood, needs a mobile phone to call home or sms her fren and ask about homework? And if you tell me that my future is lying in the hands of P6 children who sends vulgarities to their parents...I think I might die of heartache instead of old age.

But then again, I reinstate that I might be biased. I've never gone through what the child did, growing up without a father for the best part of her life. I dont know what she has gone through, to make her hate her father so much, or refuse to even try to accept him. Maybe it's steming from society (which is us, btw). Maybe we helped groom her that way. Maybe we, as adults, worry too much for our children and ask them to shun away or cast a different glance at people who has complicated backgrounds. I'm sure it's not easy to say that your father is in jail right? My dad is a karang guni (if that's what you prefer) and I did find it hard to tell at first. But then again, we are living honestly and he enjoys what he is doing (i hope!) so... yup, he is a karang guni. Maybe instead of complaining so much and being so snobbish about ourselves, we should learn to be open ourselves, and hope to teach our children that too. Society pressure is a killer. Pls dun let there be any more child suicides.