This is for the kid that got tossed from house to house since his first taste of air.
for the kid who was told he was neither loved nor cared for.
for the kid who grew up lost in a world where he was already found.
for the kid whose dad didn’t care enough to stay and the mom who stayed but didn’t seem to care enough.
for the kid who had to grow up with parents who shouldn’t have been parents.
for the kid who deserved better than what he got.
This one is for you.
You deserve more, plain and simple and it sucks more than anything that you didn’t get that.
You ended up in homes that cared more about the paycheck than the kid.
Or in some cases you ended up in a home with a seemingly nice mom but each house holds its own secrets of hurt. Even the good ones…
The nice mom is only human and every so often you get a glimpse from the words she spits.
They sting, leaving marks that don’t seem to come off with time.
Once again, you are reminded that she isn’t your real mom.
Real mom didn’t want you.
Real mom was too busy having another kid to realize the ones in front of her.
Real mom loved dope more than she loved you.
Real mom left you and never looked back.
Real mom shouldn’t have been a mom at all.
This month has been heart wrenching in the worst kind of way. It’s the kind where you have to watch the pain from the side lines instead of getting to help bandage up the wounded.
This month we worked with kids in the foster care system, something I quite enjoy. My time on the race has taught me many things but the most important lesson that I’ve learned is that kids should be loved not abandoned.
They deserve more than what they got and it makes me so angry when I see these kids who are babies fighting for affection when affection was never meant to be fought for.
It’s meant to be given freely, openly and without any hint of hesitation.
It’s not fair the two brothers who will more than likely stay in the foster system until they age out because they want to stick together but nobody wants a kid so old. So the younger one will sacrifice many homes and many families in order to stay with his brother.
It’s not fair to the siblings who move from house to house, family to family because no one loves them enough to keep them.
It’s not fair to the siblings who have been in the system their entire life and are reminded daily of everything their foster parents have done for them.
Bullshit. To all of it.
It’s not fair.
I know I’m not a parent yet so I’m aware this is coming from a place of incomplete understanding. By no means do I disregard how difficult it is to raise children, to make sure they come out of the other side decent human beings. I’m aware of that but since traveling the world I’ve seen a lot of brokenness, some that seems beyond repair and I’ve seen it the most in kids.
What they hear when they are 5 sticks them when they’re 15.
What the see when they are 10 sticks with them when they’re 20.
What they feel when they are 15 will stick with them when they’re 25.
As you know, kids are sponges, absorbing anything and everything.
They feel, they see, they hear.
Who they will be at 20 will be effected by who they were at 10.
So who will you let them be?
