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I read the following paragraph in a book, a work of fiction, recently and could not get it out of my mind. Unfortunately, I have witnessed this over my years with the newspaper. It has gripped my heart and not in a good way.

The paragraph......

"As I watched him disappear up the escalator, I want to spit at the self indulgence of my generation. My guilt as a father simply deep inside, vapors of shame...... We pursue bald ambition as if it were the true religion, leaving our children to come home to empty houses, to fix their own meals, to cope with the crippling insecurities of adolescence, while we engage in an endless chase after the grail of possessions, And we have the audacity to wonder who killed the innocence of childhood."

The innocence of childhood should not be something that was found in the 1900's and has been allowed to slowly erode away. The innocence of childhood should be preserved, honored and cherished.

How to get back to that? Fortunately many people take raising their children seriously. Unfortunately, others don't.

We will never hit 100% on this one but hopefully we can try. It will take a concerted effort from parents, school and community to do so. It will take families taking an assessment of their structures and making sure what is happening is working. That is today's challenge.

The book was fiction. I feel that statement from it was not.