Oh my! Where do I begin on this one?! I just got finished watching one of the many teen fight YouTube/ Worrrrrrlllllddd Star videos and I just wonder to myself where has the respect gone for ourselves? Why do these young people feel like EVERYTHING needs to be recorded and promoted? Don't get me wrong I obviously partake in the viewing of these videos....more out of curiosity of watching the person running their mouth and slinging threats get their ass beat (you know that's what happens..LOL) but as I watch poor Sharkisha and Lil Damo get their ass beat on tape I can't help but wonder what made their dumb ass think this was a great idea?!?!? I mean did they plan this out the night before to become "hood famous"? Did they think they would be the beatie instead of the beater? How much influence did their friends have on hyping up the situation? AND where in Sam's name is their parents? Or any adult for that matter?
As a mother I'm going to just speak on that first. I feel like I am very protective over my kids and especially my son. This is the age where he can be easily influenced by his peers and boys can be welllll....dumb. He's extremely book smart but lacks common sense....his plans are quit interesting but his execution is by far the dumbest and honestly I never would have thought to do some of the things he does when I was his age. He has a little cell phone...nothing fancy because I personally think he's to young for iPhone's and android phones. I feel those type of phones give him way more access to the outside world then he needs at 11 yrs old with Facebook, skype, Instagram, and other social media. But it leaves me in a catch 22 situation because am I then sheltering him from the new age of how kids are growing up? Or am I protecting him from this viscous world? To much access to the adult world is dangerous and I don't care how much monitoring of these account you do people are still crazy and still have access to your child (once again just my opinion). In feeling this why I think parents who have given their child this type of access encourages their preteen/teen stupidity then allowing them to have baby twerk contest, taking nudes, and making fight videos which is now spread across the worldwide web and for all to see and will continue to be out there for the rest of their lives. And although his phone isn't fancy and he doesn't have FB or IG I still look at his call log and read his text because I want to make sure he's not doing anything crazy. I wonder if these kids parents looked into their children's phone more often would they still be asking for or sending nudes and making outrageous videos? If their parents were more involved would they even feel the need to do it in the first place? If the parents were more involved would the child feel more of a need to protect or stand up for what's going on then to turn a blind eye or record it for the world to see? But then again realistically kids are going to be kids and when there's a will there's a way. I know that all the blame does not land on the parents and as a parent you do your best to raise your child with dignity and respect not only for themselves but for other people and at some point you have to let them go and hope they continue living their lives with the values you instilled in them.
Now off my mommy soap box!!
The video I watched had teenage girls but I've seen plenty with boys as well. One of my closest friends recently wrote a blog on self respect that was absolutely amazing! After reading it I defiantly looked at myself and wondered if I loved and appreciated myself as God does!! There is such an unrealistic expectation in the world of what beauty and love is and because of this it can cause you to have a false value of yourself. Do these young children experience this? I mean I assume they do because I do at thirty-something. Loving and respecting yourself can be a daunting tasking when there are so many things in the world that can make you feel otherwise, make you feel undeserving. I would hope that if they did respect and love themselves more then they wouldn't feel the need to subject themselves to this and feeling the need to fight over a boy or girl, shaking their butt and flashing their boobies wouldn't be necessary. When you disrespect yourself your opening the doors for others to disrespect you as well...why would you want that? As I watch every video I wounder if they know how they look to other people...do they even care? I mean I guess sometime the next person does needs their ass tapped but more cases than not fighting is not the answer! In the grand scheme of things there really isn't anything you need to be fighting for unless you are trying to protect yourself. I'm not 100% sure why all these fights start and have "friends" that encourage them and are willing to record but I sure hope that one day sooner than later these young people (and some older ones) realize that self respecting people do not act this way; flashing your body, bulling and fighting people are just not the way to get your point across or to be seen in this world. That people are laughing at you and not with you and they are judging you (not that it's hard for people to judge you!) and bringing this type of negative attention to yourself is not the way to begin your life. Be humble, love yourself and the ones who love you, learn from your mistakes and don't let anyone's negative opinion of you change the person you are meant to be and don't sweat the small stuff or people...they're down there for a reason!
Until next time!
J.
