A lost cause.

Laaazzzyyy. That pretty much sums up my lack of ambition to pen, er, type anything meaningful. Oh sure, the world hasn't stopped turning, the ozone layer hasn't been completely destroyed, and President Obama is still the worst president in history. (OK I stole that line) Somethings just won't, or can't change. Like in Chicago. Kids are still dying, the mayor is still spending the city's money like he's on vacation in Disney World, and the weather is as unpredictable as what Sarah Palin will say next. What can we do about it? The weather, nothing. The mayor, don't vote for him next time, which basically means, nothing. And the kids getting killed? Apparently nothing either.

"That's a defeatist attitude!" I hear you shrieking. Maybe so, but what can be done about that? Take all of the guns away and melt them down into a statue of former Mayor Daley signing away Chicago’s parking meters for a bag of beans? Close all of the schools, lock all the kids in the homes and demand every Chicago parent home school their kids? Send in the National Guard to shoot first and ask questions at the next funeral? Well let me ask you this: what chance do these kids have when the parents at best are failing their kids through un-involvement, and at worst actually leading them to a life of crime? Take these two recent examples. Two stories on the same day, printed side by side in the newspaper.

In the first, a Chicago woman has a traffic altercation with a Chicago cop, which results in the woman attacking the female officer and dragging her with her own car. Worse yet, the woman’s two children were in the back. Worse even still, the older child, all of 8 years, joined in and beat the officer over the head. An eight year old beating up a cop. Can you make this shit up? And where did she get that idea? On TV? Or just maybe, kids emulate their parents. If mommy says cops are bad than it must be true.

The second, two neighbors in the city get into an argument. Woman #1 decides she’s had enough, and walks away. Inside her apartment, she hears woman #2 continue the verbal tirade when a brick comes through her window. She phones her 28 year old son who comes to her rescue. But woman #1 has her own son, 26, at the scene. So an argument over a traffic altercation turns into a deadly encounter when the son of woman #2 runs his car into the son of woman #1. She lost her offspring because another person could not live with the fact that she lost an argument. At what point did the killer think, “It is acceptable to kill another human being because my mom was disrespected?” Gee, where did he ever get that idea.

Look, I get it. I get it that I don’t get it. I am a suburban boy who has not walked a mile in their shoes. I do not know what life is like dodging bullets on a playground. I do not know what life is like when parents don’t care about the child there are raising. I do not know what it is like to be homeless. What I do know, is that kids are like parrots. They emulate what is around them. They look to their moms and dads for guidance through life. And when that guidance is leading them down a path of self-destruction, what chance do they have in life? None. But the worst part? What today's kids learn from their parents will be passed down to the next generation. How do you stop that?