What The Future Holds

The other night an old acquaintance from High School posted a link to a comedy blurb on FaceBook. The blurb was from a person with a name that I recognized. I clicked the link and tried to see if I did in fact know the comedian. I turned it off after the first couple of sentences because of the foul language. I wasn't sure if was the same guy or not, and I wasn't going to listen to the filth to find out. Many people 'liked' the segment and raved about it. Many of these people have all been through the temple, and have made the same covenants that I have made. I'll never know if it was actually funny because I'm not going to try to sort through the beginning to see if there is anything of merit in the end.

Yesterday I was checking status updates on FaceBook and I saw this same comedian name pop up on a mutual friend's wall. I clicked to see if it was in fact the same guy that I knew, and it was.

I'm not going to lie, my disappointment was immediate.

I knew this gentleman. He was the class clown. He was a few years older than me, but he was always doing something funny. Assemblies at the school were fun because of him. He was a great guy. He had high standards, and everyone wanted to be around him.

I wondered about where and when he took the path that he took to get him to 'there' or rather 'here'. Was it the divorce of his parents? He seemed to fare well during school. Can he not be funny anymore without being filthy?

I can only imagine how heartbroken his mother is.

Of course, then I contemplated what the future holds for my own children. I desire with all my heart that they will choose a good path. I try so hard to recognize their individuality. I try to teach them. I hope to protect them, but also allow them to make the mistakes that they need to make so that they can learn. I see so much of me in Sydney. I fear for her at times. I know what I did in life to be accepted. I'm not proud of some of those things, and I don't want her to experience the same pain. She is kind. So far she sticks up for the things she knows to be right. I pray she continues to do so.

Ryan is a good boy too. He is kind. He is at a stage of life right now where he wants to fit in. He was telling us about a kid at school and showing some of the things that he was doing. He laughed, and then he watched to see if I approved. I didn't, but because I didn't, he felt that he was wrong for laughing and he told us that he didn't really like what the kid was doing. I felt bad that I had swayed him. Nothing that this kid was doing was bad. I just thought that he was  being an idiot. However, to Ryan, it was funny. We had the discussion that it was more important for him to tell us that - yes, he did like what the kid was doing, rather than telling us no. I'd rather that he feel like he can be honest.

With the world the way it is today, I don't know what the future holds. I just hope that I can help my kids through it all, whatever 'it all' is.