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Sunday, August 28, 2011

The flower garden in my heart

 by: Terri Neal

A little hand reaching up with flowers. The other hand tugging at my skirt as I stand at the sink finishing the last of the dishes. "This is for you mommy." I turn to see the proud and precious smile on a dirt laden face. Oh, that little face. Those cute rosy cheeks and those eyes so full of love for me. I take the flower and put it in a cup of water. Soon the petals will wilt but like a seed, the memory of this little encounter was planted deeply in my heart where it will bloom forever.


Sunday, August 14, 2011

Time stand stills for no one

One of the kids changed my desktop background to flip through my picture files. I have A LOT of old picture files that I rarely view, and as I was sitting there, they were changing every 15 seconds or so. I was reminiscing with each one, trying to remember the location that each picture was taken. I enjoyed seeing how little my children were, in each one. Many of these were transferred from an old computer and so they were not stored in my regular picture files. I tried right clicking on one that was especially dear to find its location but… to no avail. The pictures just kept moving and changing and there was nothing that I could do to bring them back. The irony of that moment struck me. It was so much like the events and the people in those pictures. Time stand stills for no one.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Internet Porn

             The Monster in the closet, they won’t tell you about   By: Terri Neal

Warning: There is a very good chance that there is a monster in your house! Not a real monster of course, but one that can be terrifying to parents and destroy your children, just the same. I am talking about internet pornography, which is so easily accessed by our youth of today, with unsupervised use of the internet.  Every family has their own set of values and things that interest them. Those interests are evident in the books and movies on the shelf, the pictures on the wall, and the sports equipment in the garage. But, there is an ever increasing interest, especially amongst our youth, that is not quite as evident, yet, can be profoundly damaging.
 I recently encountered a family that was very conservative; both religiously and politically. They were hands on parents and helped their children choose great books and nice friends. They attended Mass regularly and were active in parish and community activities. From the outside, this family looked exemplary.  The children were well instructed both by the words and example of their parents. The parents trusted their children. The mother informed me, that one of her older teenage boys had been having difficulties making good decisions. After being caught in several indiscretions, the boy finally confessed that for years, he had been viewing internet porn. The parents were in shock. Their son was always polite, prayed the Rosary nightly with the family, attended daily Mass several times weekly and even wore a scapular. The parents had set up parental controls that were provided with their operating system, but their son was computer savvy and had figured a way around the controls. They got him help through a priest, but the images that he viewed online will be a lifelong struggle for him. Pornography damages the way we look at sexuality and it defames the dignity of both men and women. People are used as objects to be used and discarded.  This is not an isolated case. According to Family Choice Media, there are 420 million pornographic pages on the web, and 4.2 million pornographic websites. They also cited surveys that claimed 90% of 8-16 years old have come across some porn on the internet, most while doing homework. They claim that 80% of 15-17 year olds have had multiple hard core porn exposures. Some porn sites link with Children's character names to try and lure the kids. We wonder why? What could possibly be in it for them? Pornography can be addicting and according to Associated Content, every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography. Top 10 Reviews, states that in 2006 there were 13.3 billion dollars spent in the U.S. pornography industry alone with the world wide total that year being 97.6 billion. It is a growing problem! Getting rid of the internet isn’t really a choice in today’s world, when we need it for business and education. So, what can a concerned parent do? Well, first off one needs to find an effective filter, remembering that the internet is a door to another world.  Compare the value of having a filter with having a lock for your front door, if you lived in a neighborhood rampant with sleaze.  Your child’s purity should be protected at any price. However, we found a free filter called K-9, which has worked well for us. There are many other great ones out there including, but not limited to; Net Nanny, Safeeyes, and Cybersitter. I suggest checking reviews to find a good one for your family’s needs. Besides the filter, another way I secure my children’s safety is to take my router with me when I go somewhere and there is not an adult at home. That way, even if I log off the computer, they cannot access online sites through any internet capable devices.  No effort is too great to keep our children safe from monsters lurking inside your house from another world we call the internet.