REGURGITATIONS

                 I was raised in a dysfunctional home.   Maybe, all of us were to some degree.   My home was filled with tension, harsh words, anger, threats, fear and physical punishment.   I felt perpetually unwelcome.   I would often lose myself in dreams of a better place.   A friendly, welcoming place where words produced laughter not pain.   To this end, I never missed a rerun of the Andy Griffith show during my childhood years.   Mayberry became my happy place.   Mayberry represented family and a better existence, a better America.   Baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet.   A cold coke on the porch as the autumn breeze brought another pleasant day to an end.   Maybe Uncle Andy would break out the guitar and we would sing a few tunes. No matter the events of the day it would end with a kiss on the forehead as Andy turned the bedside lamp out.   The town w...

How can a child shoot up a school?   The answer is obvious.   Bad parenting.   Parents don’t want to hear this reality.   We all know the parents who have the kid who we all know is going to shoot up a school or find another way to end up in prison.   If you don’t know those parents and those kids…then you are probably that parent and they are your kids.   The kids you see hitting their parents.   More likely to shoot up a school.   The kids you see cussing at their parents.   More likely to shoot up a school.   The kids you see throwing a tantrum in the store as their parents stand idly by.   More likely to shoot up a school.   The kid calling his mother by her first name.   More likely to shoot up a school.   The kid who has a list of prescription medications which is exceeded by his parents.   More likely to shoot up a school.        I spent more than twenty-five years as an Occ...