Tossing Salt Presents:
Thirty (More) Days of Dougie:
I Am The Future (Flashback)
February 5, 2022
DougMaynard.com

I originally wrote this way back in 2013 as part of my Thirty (More) Days of Dougie Series, posted on my Facebook page in the NOTES section. I remember writing it and it told a very sad, but true story. And as I look around today, things have not gotten better. Now, nine years later, those children I spoke of are parents themselves, are smoking and drinking, and the cycle continues. I took a look at them so many years ago and I’m seeing them now. The future is a dark place. I wish I could say otherwise, but I can’t. I really do. Comments and thoughts are welcome. I’d love to hear feedback on this. Thanks for reading.

Ubuntu!

Thirty (More) Days of Dougie – Part 1: I Am The Future

Welcome to the beginning of yet another strange saga.  After the thrills, chills and cheap groping feels of “Thirty Days of Dougie” last month, I decided that it was just too good to quit.  And if I can do thirty days straight of blogging and writing, why not sixty?  So here you go.  It’s “Thirty (More) Days of Dougie.  This should, barring any unforseen circumstances, run from today non-stop until March 5, 2013.  But one little slight difference here with this second installment of the “Thirty Days” will be that during the first run, I would draw the ideas and topics for discussion from my trusty little “magic box” and then write in some way, shape or fashion about whatever topic I drew.  And I’ll still do that on occasion, but I also want to do more random pieces where I might talk about what’s going on in my life, people or things I know, something I saw in the news, or whatever. So it’s anything goes for the next 30 Days.  Are you ready for this?  Let’s hit it!

Thirty (More) Days of Dougie – Part 1:  I Am The Future

February 4, 2013

One thing that really does annoy me (and I see this daily) is the way that some parents these days treat and even worse act, around their children. Let me give a couple of examples.

A woman comes to the store and she had her little ones in tow.  As soon as she walks into the store, she’s screaming on her cell phone and starts holding a reunion with her long lost best friend forever / cousin, “Boo”.  The children are left to run wild and immediately go to the coffee area and one is touching the cups.  The other heads for the candy and is making one hell of a mess.  The woman is oblivious to what her children are doing and is too busy having a conversation with her friend.  Finally she notices that the kids are not right there with her so she screams across the store at them.  “Get over here before I bust you in de’ face!”.  

Another couple used to come into the store and play the Poker Machines.  They would bring their four small children with them and make them sit in the booth for hours at a time while Mommy and Daddy pumped literally hundreds of dollars into the gambling device.  The kids would get a drink to share among them or sometimes a small, ten cents piece of candy each and a Jungle Juice and be expected to sit there while their parents threw away money and generally made a major mess of the area.

Here’s something that I see every single day.  The (mostly women) come in and they have their kids in tow and go immediately to the beer cooler and load up on the 24’s of Old Milwaukee (OM’s) or the 40’s of Old English.  That’s some nasty ass beer by the way.  Uuuugh!  So they drag the kids around while they’re on their beer run.  And they come up to the counter with their several cans or bottles of alcohol.  And they get cigarettes.  And the kid is watching all of this.  And then they get a cigarello or a blunt.  Maybe some wraps.  Gee, I wonder what they’re going to do with those?

But anyhow, they get all this stuff and the kids are watching everything and taking it all in. The kid asks “can I get some chips” and the mama about snaps his or her head off before finally saying “yeah, but get ‘dem small bags.  I ain’t go no money for yo shit!”.  The woman continues to mutter and cuss under her breath as the kid gets a bag of chips and puts it on the counter. “Fifty cents?  I told you to get the cheap ones”, the woman screams at the kid.  So the kid takes the chips back and looks for cheaper ones, of which there are none.  The woman screams again, “you better hurry up!”  The kid ends up getting a piece of bubble gum while the mother is grouching and fussing the entire time.

The point to all of this is I see parents (well, so called parents because they may have given birth, but they suck as examples) with their children, doing stuff like I mentioned earlier (and far more) each and every day.  And these are the same parents though who will raise hell and scream at the top of their lungs if you dare say anything to them or their children when someone is acting like an idiot or doesn’t know how to act in public.  I have a hard time blaming the kids when I see what their examples are.

I see the parents drinking and smoking the weed and being hateful all the time and they’re the same ones who claim that their kids are angels and perfect and do no wrong.  Meanwhile, the kids are quitting school, drinking, smoking weed, stealing, and popping out babies like there’s no tomorrow and these same parents are saying that it’s “society’s fault” that their kids are “forced” to be this way.  It’s not their fault and it’s not the kid’s fault.  Blame it on Congress.  Blame it on the police.  Blame it on the white man.  Blame it on any and everyone but where the blame truly lies… with the parents for setting the examples and the kids for following it.

This is what I see every day.  And it’s getting worse and worse and worse.  When will everyone open their eyes and realize that the kids today are totally broken and f*cked up!  And they can’t be fixed because they don’t realize they have a problem.  They’re just following the examples set by Mom and Dad.  Oh wait, Dad isn’t around anyhow.  He split right after the baby was born.  Don’t wanna mess up his swag with dirty diapers and responsibilites, does he… Not when the Mom can get all sorts of money from the Government while he’s out pimpin’ and making more babies.  

We have a f*cked up world out there.  The people don’t know about personal responsibility or being good examples.  Or worse, they just don’t care.  I’m losing my train of thought here, but I think the point is clear.  These people are the future.  And what does that mean?  As a society and as a nation, we’re pretty much screwed.  Think about it.

I’m gone.  Back tomorrow.

Ubuntu!