I Am Not Even Shocked Anymore But I´m Greatly Saddened

We are creating a world which is becoming indifferent to things which years ago would have shocked us completely. Some people reading this might say that what I am about to show you isn´t shocking to them and never has been, it was part of their upbringing, what made them decent law abiding respectful people- but did it really?

What I want to show you is this:

This was in the newspapers here in Norway today. Dagbladet writes that county judge William Adams beat his then 16 year old daughter with a belt for downloading games and music from the internet. In the video, which is quite disturbing, it´s obvious this girl has placed a camera where she can capture everything that happens without her parents knowing. Both parents beat their daughter in the video and threaten her verbally. This is a judge who has handled several family abuse cases over the years.

I don´t know what is more disturbing to me, the fact that this girl filmed this, put it out on the net not right away but several years later after what sounds like yet another family argument for these people and the daughter now 23 finally decides to take revenge on her parents by posting this video. Another disturbing obvious fact is that these parents whose job it is to protect and nourish their child are beating her and threatening her which makes me wonder what do they think they taught her? Finally, if you go to the you tube video and watch this and then read the comments under, the mind set of some people is terrifying.

Now while I agree that many kids these days have lost respect for....so many things, not just their elders but so many things including themselves...is this because they aren´t beaten anymore or could it be because they are left to themselves, more now then ever before? I respect the fact that in this day and age most families must have both parents working and single families are facing the challenges they always have by having no choice as to whether the parent would be at home or out working, but there use to be whole families who would raise kids...loving neighbours who were home, kids weren´t left on their own like they are today. In our quest to have EVERYTHING and to have it with minimal investment on our own parts, children are being terribly affected by this ever growing trend. We want the kids but have no time to invest in them. We want Things and Things take precedence over teaching our children right from wrong, teaching our kids about love and caring, and respect and so many other important life qualities such as...dare I say it, common sense? ;-)

I can hear many of you squawking that I´m generalizing and that not everyone is like this and you´re completely right. There are exceptions to anything. That is why even those children who weren´t beaten growing up became decent law abiding people, that is why there are loving and caring kids today even with both parents working and no immediate family around. There are exceptions and THANK goodness for that! However, the trend is clear..the facts are clear...things aren´t getting better in our society, they are getting worse in general and we have to ask ourselves why and really take a moment to think about it and be honest about it. I´m not about to give you parenting advice or family advice, I´m struggling every day to make the right choices for myself and my family and I´m by far a perfect parent/human. However, I don´t think it´s right to hit anyone...I don´t think violence solves anything and unfortunately talking doesn´t always solve things either. Sometimes we just can´t see eye to eye about things and we have choices....I believe in choices. We all have them. We can choose to act upon our feelings, we can choose to talk about our feelings, we can choose to walk away from our feelings...it´s our choice. Animals often act upon instinct...they don´t stop up and think, "hmmm, I can either eat this antelope or wait for a juicy water buffalo instead" or "I´m going to chase this cat....or I could just let him pass by without bother"....animals DO.....but we humans....we can CHOOSE.

I get so angry when people tell me that they can´t change things because this is how they have been all their life or this is just how it is or some other excuse...we humans are full of excuses! We all have choices to change things we don´t like. Maybe we can´t change the world, but we can change the things around and in our own lives if we really want too. Unfortunately though, change takes effort which isn´t something people are willing to invest much of anymore...so the bottom line is...change, choices, they all come down to each individual, what you´re willing to do, what you´re willing to invest, what is really really important to you.

*Deep breath* puh...sorry for the deep subject today folks. It´s not often I get on my soap box and give a lecture but sometimes my pot of what I can handle in life gets full and I have to pour out some things so I don´t cook over...and this was one of those situations. Don´t worry...I´m still a happy go lucky gal who tries her best to be postiive 99% of the time. In fact, I´m positive this will be a great weekend, tomorrow we will pick up Cookie. Isn´t she just so scrumptious you want to eat her up???

I´ve promised Cookie´s breeder some cookies when we come to pick her up tomorrow...I just thought, I can´t pick up my Sugar Cookie without bringing cookies- that is after all what she is being named after...one of my most favourite hobbies, cookie baking! So today I´m making snickerdoodles and some double chocolate cookies to take with us tomorrow. 


Our weather has been so grey and wet these last weeks that I find my mind wandering back to our family vacation in Rome...the warm days and nights, the sunshine on my skin...I love Norway but I´m finding the crappy weather harder and harder to deal with..but I keep trying..I mean, there has to be positives with weeks and weeks of rain and grey skies right?? Something...anyone think of anything???? No.....yup, I can´t think of anything right now either, but sure there is something!! 


Have a great weekend everyone! Until next time....