................................Just thoughts............

UUUUUUUUUUUUgh.

There is so much crap in the news right now and most of it right here in good ol' Salt Lake Valley, some even right at our door steps. Don't get me wrong I think you can find evil anywhere you go but it feels so close to home and it is very disturbing to watch and read about all of it lately. I was looking on a local news web site just now and I counted 22 stories on the front page and MAYBE 1 of them could count as a semi positive story. Maybe the world has always had evil things in it and the modern days of media just make it seem worse, but I tell you, I don't remember being scared as a kid, and right now, I am scared for the kids who live in today's youth. Scared for them OR of them.

I guess the thing that started all of this is the recent news of a West Valley women who is missing, I thought the husbands story was strange from the start but tried not to judge because the media likes to "tell" you who to think is guilty. Only a week has passed and the target is getting larger and larger towards the husband, AGAIN.

I am wondering in my mind, when did it become OKAY to hurt (emotionally or physically), hit or even kill your wife, wrap her up or dump her somewhere and then pretend to help look for her for a few weeks before you go to jail for DOING it!!!??? This is the 2nd major case in the Slat Lake Valley (what we actually call ZION) and I am sure it happens more often than we know world wide.

Kidnappings, Murder, Suicide, TRUSTED church and or school leaders causing physical harm/hurting children, school shootings, hit by a car, hit and run, controlling husbands who end up killing their wives, a mom who kills her whole family over a custody issue......
The list doesn't end, and that is all just in the last four weeks of somewhat LOCAL news reports I have seen or read about.

From an LDS stand point, I don't see how we can deny that these truly ARE the last days. And WE are the valiant souls who were chosen to come to earth at this time, to handle these problems?? What were we thinking??? lol.
I have joked in the past that I would have been a horrible pioneer, I would have whined the whole trek, I would have found a reason to ride on the wagon instead of walk, I would have been among the first doubt that all of it was worth the death and loss and starvation and pain and blisters and labor??? But, I am sure they are up in heaven right now looking down and saying the same thing "I'm glad I wasn't sent to THIS time"

My mind wonders a little to the youth of today.... If anyone asked, I'd say I had a pretty good childhood and actually mean it. I can't complain much there. But I look at today's young kids (in general, not all) and I see lazy, want, need, have to have, spoiled, I see disrespect towards the older generation and rules, I see greed. Gangs, school shootings. Drugs. I feel I was taught better than this so I have a hard time relating to this on some levels.
It's actually Funny, I'm SURE our parents said the same thing when we were younger, I guess NOW I am the parent and seeing through their eyes. It's a tough job and one I try not to take lightly. BUT, I hope I NEVER forget what it was like to be a kid either. As hard as we try, our kids don't always learn from "our" mistakes.

Mark actually had to remind me once, as I was getting frustrated at Joey for not doing everything I told him to do the second he got home from school. Mark reminded me that Joey too, had JUST had a very exhausting 6 hour day (at school). Teachers telling him what to do all day, dealing with kids who may or may not be nice that day, cramming in the lessons and trying not to make too much of it home work, sure there is recess but I don't think my mom ever knew I actually dreaded recess, what if no one would play with me, I used to sit behind a wall and watch other kids play sometimes because I had fun, watching them have fun. I'm sure, not everyone deals with that, but I have a kid who breaks out in hives and is emotionally sensitive more than not because of stress he should NOT even be having. So I guess I try really hard now to recognise that, I would not go back to being a kid right now for anything in the world. And instead of gripe I guess they need more support than ever.

This deep thought was taken way off course I know, but as I watch the angry things that are happening in the world today it makes me frustrated in a way I do not like feeling. Life is a fight to succeed, one we should be fighting together, WITH our kids, parents, teachers, leaders, neighbors, spouses. Not AGAINST them.

I KNOW this may not seem very funny, but every once in a while, when Mark and I are talking about all the crap of the world, I never forget to thank him for being responsible with our finances, not hiding things from me, and for not killing me in my sleep. Those are 3 LESS thing I have to worry about in life.

SO, THAT said...... I think I will turn off the TV and put away the newspapers, and enjoy this holiday season and be grateful to the Man we celebrate it for. For he truly knows all things, and someday this will all make sense. I hope. :)