Adrian Peterson’s Love Child – Never Meant To Be

AdrianPeterson [update 10/17/13 th to Hank Jones, related article from Baltimore Sun]

Another sad headline via the sports pages: “Adrian Peterson’s Young Son Dies After Assault”.

Peterson has received much sympathy from the public and his teammates, and has reported that he will unquestionably play in today’s game against the Panthers. Yes, it’s a tragedy, but it’s not Peterson’s fault. Or is it?

It’s certainly a tragedy for the two-year child, who did not pick his parents. He was born to Peterson and a “girlfriend”. Then shaken to death by her new “boyfriend”. Call me old-school, but I still think kids should be raised by married mothers and fathers, not boyfriends, girlfriends, gay lovers, and Hillary’s “village”.

Kansas City Chiefs fans still wail about the tragedy when star defensive end Derrick Thomas was paralyzed and later died from a car crash while driving to the airport in a snowstorm. One of his two passengers was also killed. Thomas left behind seven children by five different mothers, he was not married to any of them, and he blew his millions of dollars so fast he didn’t leave them a penny. State Senator Bill Kenney, a former Chief, called Thomas “a true hero.”

Marriage is now obsolete, and I think this may be the biggest threat facing our society and our economy. Look at the listing of births in your local newspaper. Only about half of these precious little creatures are born to parents with the same last name. The other half begin their journey through life with two strikes against them. Some will succeed, but most will face poverty and will be dependent on their peers who were raised in a traditional family.

The breakup of the American family, and the subsequent dependency of unwed mothers on the government, has caused an avalanche of social problems. By eliminating the economic need for fathers, we have done untold damage to generations of kids that will be tough, if not impossible, to reverse. The solution is not as simple as just cutting back spending on welfare and food stamps – that would only do more damage to the kids. A culture shift is the only thing that will get us out of this tailspin.

Too many parents are now conditioned to think it is “somebody else’s” responsibility to see that their kids get an education. That they get breakfast and lunch. That they have school supplies and warm coats.

My wife recently visited with a single mom who was concerned about the federal government shut-down. “What if they stop Head Start?” the stay-at-home welfare mother asked. “My kids are supposed to know their ABC’s before they get to grade school. What am I going to do?” It obviously never occurred to her to turn off the TV and teach them herself.

I’m guessing all of you who read this are old enough to remember the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story about a young Puritan woman who was branded as an adulterer and shunned by her community. It was required reading for junior high kids back when we were in school, when marriage mattered. The Scarlet Letter is no longer in the curriculum, for two reasons: One is Common Core, which limits most school reading to non-fiction, featuring themes such as global warming and diversity. The other is the fact that today’s kids don’t “get it” when they read about adultery. What’s wrong with two unmarried people having sex? Doesn’t everybody do that?

I know, I am a social dinosaur, severely outnumbered and out-dated. But I was here when life was better – back when kids had moms and dads with the same name.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side