I have been watching the news and reading papers from all over the last couple of weeks. I have read web blogs, letters to the editor.... I have seen many things to cry about. I see people pointing fingers at the current President Bush, I see people pointing to a lack of God and parents and many other excuses for teen suicides, I see Michael Jackson in bedclothes. On television I watch as 10,000 kids die each day of starvation. I see kids running our streets with no place to go, I see trash, I see drunk drivers slapped on the wrist.

I see the jobless, and I see unemployment, I see low wages for those that do work. I see Senator John Grubesic and other State officials are lying to our police departments, others are just plain drunk drivers and have been caught. I see the family drunks in convenience stores buying beer with food stamps, and I am sure they are not feeding that to the baby. I see boys and girls at our schools laughed at because they do not have nice clothes or their shoes ripped and worn to pieces.

I see working mothers crying hoping they can find a better way for their children, I see children crying without their mother. I see fathers long-gone wondering if the kid was really theirs. I see drug dealers. I met a man today that smokes marijuana but does not know where his next check will come from. I saw a man that works twelve hours a day and belongs to two churches telling his son he did not have time to play ball. I saw a coach using foul language to the ten and eleven year-old's on his team... but let's get that part straight, regardless of age, a foul mouth is not something good men share with any boy, girl or teen.

I see voters unhappy about Asbill and Stell voting against the ban on cockfighting. I see child protection laws being thrown out, and drunk drivers getting pats on the back. I see great men and women leaders worldwide dying of old age that will not be remembered by many, including grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt, son, daughter... while thugs, liars, criminals fill up our televisions and newspapers.

I see biased media and reporters. I see media making trivial things into works of awe inspiring garbage, while the real art goes unnoticed. Yes, this last two weeks there is a lot to cry about. Then again there is every week, and each week it becomes worse, there seem to be less tears, at least from most people. Are we hardening our hearts to our neighbors, their children, their homes.. Our neighbors?

It's pretty bad out there, real life. The message is being sent to every household in America. To every teen, to every child. There is no hope.

As a guest speaker for a Native American Pow-wow a few years ago near Battle Creek Michigan, I was asked to speak about the Native American Community helping each other instead of bickering with each other. What I said then, is just as important this week to the world, as it was to them.

"We come to this circle with open arms, hoping for the best for our families and ourselves. We listen to our leaders. We obey even when it does not sit well in our hearts. We condemn the outside world for wanting our ways of life and peace, yet many of us grasp their ways and have no peace. We do for each other, we work day and night and then come to the circle for peace in our lives.

Maybe sometimes we forget how big this circle of life is, maybe we put our ways too high on a pedestal and cannot leave them behind when we come to the circle. Maybe we forget how important our children our to our futures, our mother earth, our very sanity. Maybe we forget our veterans who in the circle we honor and forget when we are outside. Maybe we learn from our teachers, but they should not be teaching. Maybe there are good teachers and we are not listening.

Quiet now, listen to the music of the wind, the birds, smell the blossoms, close your eyes and sniff the goodness of the land, the blue sky, the warm earth. Keep your eyes closed and imagine a blue circle. Imagine that is us. Now imagine all the pow wows in the nation going on at the same time on that blue circle. Make the circle bigger, and bigger yet.

The circle of life does not stop when you leave the circle of the pow wow. The circle of life is as mighty as the four winds, bigger than the sky. If you have chosen to be a part of the circle then remember the circle is all of the earth, and each person and animal on it. The Creator commands us to be caretakers of the earth. The trees, the animals, our old and young, our veterans and mothers, but most of all our neighbors."

Remember we are riding on the good ship Lollipop, and it is up to us to make it better, if children and teens are going to survive they must believe there is hope to change the things they believe they cannot change. Each of us can make a difference, one voice is all it takes. If you make it a billion voices, it will change dramatically, no teacher, no church, no political system can do that. Only you - the parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and friends can do that. You can change anything. Just cry out. Believe me, I do it each week and see those changes.

Maybe the media, maybe our leaders have forgotten these things. Let us hope that you remember them, you teach them to your children, because they our are future, give them the hope now to accomplish that goal, give them the hope they need to survive. ---



About the Author
Randy Redhawk has written four novels and two self help books under the name Ryan Orr, including "Beyond the Oasis". His free lance articles have appeared in several Gannet newspapers, as well as the New York Times and Chicago Tribune and other major publications under Randy Weldon. He is a published Herpetologist and worked for many Zoos before becoming a minister.