To the Parents of the Graduating Class of 2027

With all the talk in the news about bullying and kids committing suicide as a result, to say I'm scared about Sarah Beth going out into this big wide world would be an understatement.  The thought of anyone ever being mean to this precious little person makes my stomach churn.  You can teach your children to be confident and kind, but how do you protect them from the small-minded, weak people out in the universe who find pleasure in knocking others down?

I know I have 4 years before sweet Sarah Beth goes off to school, but it's a terrifying thought.  If society is this messed up already, how will it be when she's in grammar school, a teenager, a college student?  I long for a childhood for her like I had, when 6-year-olds could walk to school by themselves and ride bikes all afternoon with their friends without fear. When we didn't lock our doors.  When most of the kids we started with in preschool were the same kids in our high school graduating class.  When kids were allowed to be kids.  When kids were innocent of so much of the ugliness in the world.  When kissing a boy in 8th grade was a HUGE deal.  When little girls didn't worry about being supermodel skinny, not that it mattered because we were all skin and bones from playing outside all day.  I know I'm looking back with rose-colored glasses - I'm sure kids were picked on and teased.  I'm sure I was one of them at some point, being the shy goody-goody that I was, but I can't remember one person in my youth who was ever really unkind to me.  Good God, certainly nothing like what's all over the news today.   Teenage girls hanging themselves in their closet because some other girls said mean things about them on Facebook or sent rude text messages?  Young men jumping off a bridge because some stupid kids outed him on the internet?  Were people always this heartless but it just got magnified because of all the "advances"  in technology?  Or is it that people can separate themselves from the pain that they are inflicting by hiding behind their computers and cell phones.

Whatever it is, this downward spiral has to stop or I, for one, will be moving our family to a desert island devoid of internet, cell phones, and mean people.  We all start out more or less the same.  Sweet, cuddly babies wanting love and care.  How does it happen that some children grow up to pick on other children?  What is it that these bullies are lacking that drives them to thrive off of the misery of others?  What is screwing up our children?

I hope that all the parents of the graduating class of 2027 feel the same way I do, and teach their children to be nice to others.  To have a good heart.  To show kindness to everyone.  To believe in themselves.  To stand up for those who do get picked on and to let the bullies know that their meanness will not be tolerated.  I have so many dreams for my little girl.  To me, the most important values that I can instill in her are kindness, compassion and love.  I hope her future friends and classmates and teachers and community will embrace her and love her as we do.

Please indulge me as I stroll down memory lane, I'd like to thank my wonderful, sweet best childhood girlfriends who loved me for who I was and never made me feel less.  Jen, my dear friend of 34 years who is still my sister in my heart even though I hardly ever get to see her.  Ishy, my kindergarten pal who danced to Copacabana with me in her basement, introduced me to the piano, and explored the wild woods of her backyard with me.  Hoda, my outgoing creative friend who was friends with everyone but always had time to spend with me eating peanut M&Ms and pizza in front of old movies on a Friday night or making silly movies of our own with her Dad's video camera.  Thank you.  And thank you to your parents for raising such great kids who grew up to be beautiful women, inside and out.