Breaking the Cycle: Raising children in south St. Pete, part 2

Praise the Lord.

Continuing from where I left off last week, when a person tries to convince me they have the solution to a problem, there are some key elements that must be in place in order for me to even consider if it has merit.

You have to have past evidence based off unbiased, transparent and specific factors that went into determining these results.

Some politicians are notorious for using tactics that skew the truth and if you’re not careful, you will make a decision based on sugarcoated, watered down statements.

Don’t try to convince me how to be a better dad if you are a deadbeat dad, or you are not the custodial parent or you haven’t raised your own from infancy to young adulthood. Weekend warriors might work in the military but not in parenting.  Don’t try to tell me how to be a great or better husband when you have divorce in your rear view mirror multiple times or you are single or “shacking.”  Another myth that gets my goat is the belief that age denotes wisdom.

Wisdom is rightly applied knowledge through experiences and has no age limit. God rose up David over Saul because Saul thought he could do whatever he wanted and God would honor it. Hence, 1 Sam 15: 10-28 shows this is not the case. You must do it God’s way if you want what He promised.

Obedience trumps sacrifice all day long. You can be in a position for over 40 years but that doesn’t mean you are the wisest and always know the best way of dealing with issues. If you are still at that same position, same level, then all you have done is proven that you have perseverance and “stickability.”

The way my mom raised me and my brothers would not have worked for my kids today. Different generation demands we use a different methodology. No one said anything about compromising the standards because it’s not necessary.

That’s almost like someone that grew up in the middle class trying to explain to someone like me that grew up in the projects how or why a particular issue or problem exists and how to correct it.

Your thesis is flawed because you are missing vital factors that contributed to the development of the problem. You are unaware of the roots and what has been fed to the roots that developed the problem.

I remember in the movie Malcolm X when the white student walked up to him and asked what she could do to help. She meant well and probably was genuine in her statement, but he knew that her background made her inept and without intensive extensive teachings on the black race, her attempt would be in vain.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter; can you say generational curses, the Willie Lynch letter, transitional extinction and economic deprivation and cultural ignorance?

Generational curses are not fairy tales or folklore, quite the contrary. They are real, did exist and still to this very day are ever present in the lives of the black community. It would only take just a mere glance at our societal breakdown to see the evidence of its existence and its demonstrative effects in our lives.

I’m not a betting man anymore but I can almost guarantee if we all researched our genealogy, we would not have any problems discovering one instance of it within our little family trees.

Where did they spawn from you say? From the Garden of Eden and the Willie Lynch letter.  In the Garden, man decided to step down from his divine position given to him by God and heeded to the instructions of his helpmate and prior to that chose to remain silent when deceptive words were being spoken.

While some try to say that the Willie Lynch letter doesn’t exist, I would beg to differ.  It seems quite the coincidence that the very essence of the letter and its content are still practiced today.  Again, affect the roots, you control the outcome.

I hear many say that the definition of insanity is to continue doing the same thing with the expectation of getting a different result.  Food for thought: those that are deemed insane do not have control of their thoughts or actions.  There is another term we used in the Marines but it’s a bit more harsh but more accurate.

We have got to turn this epidemic upside down and create a paradigm shift in order for things to conform to what we are attempting to achieve. (Rom 12: 2)

You can’t bridge a gap when you aren’t knowledgeable or equipped with the necessary tool and materials to start the construction of that span.  If there was an answer here before, why hasn’t it been introduced in over 30 years?  I can only speak to the past 25 years but these problems have been here long before I arrived.

Stay tuned as I discuss further these societal viruses and how we begin to address them and develop antidotes to free our neighbors, communities, and ultimately our kids.

As I close, please understand this one thing, I’m not competing to get more readers , I’m addressing plagues that have hindered our communities for over 25 years and suggesting remedies that will guide us all in the right direction towards winning our kids back.

‘Till next week,

God Bless,

Dr. Rob