Welcome to the Jungle...

I remember when I first heard this song from Guns 'n Roses, I was glad to live in "quiet" Ohio far away from California and Vegas. While the jungle is how they referred to drug pushers, prostitutes, etc... I was recently smacked in the face with the reality that the jungle has spread!
What ever happened to being responsible for your actions? If you did a crime, you did the time. And more importantly, you learned from it and didn't do it again. It seems fairly simple to me. My kids have even managed to understand that...most of the time anyhow.

It used to be easy to tell who the bad guys were. They looked like bad guys. Not anymore! Now they could be a teacher, neighbor, relative...some of them even hide behind "the cloth". How do you trust anyone? How do you let your children out of your sight? I don't worry about what they'll do...I worry about what will be done to them. I was driving down the highway the other day and had to quickly move off the road to avoid someone driving up the middle of the road at a high rate of speed. Would my 16 year old have been watching her rear view mirror and seen them coming? If I have to hear of one more adult forcing themselves on a child I think I will scream. What is wrong with these people? We have a responsibility to protect our children, they are our future leaders and parents...they will repeat what they've learned. The same holds true for our elderly. How do people not only put their aging relatives in a less than stellar nursing home, but never go visit? And the aids...they treat these wonderful people horrible with no caring or feeling. These amazing people are the ones who helped form this nation and raise their families...don't they deserve to be treated with respect?

I know, I know...there are amazing nursing homes with caring staff, most of the teachers have their students best interest at heart and put in way to many hours without any additional pay and we are still living in the greatest country on earth. I just think we all have an obligation to step in and stop travesties that occur. Just think if each of us prevented one person from being abused, addicted to drugs, bullied, harrassed or swindled...what a different world we'd live in.