The other day I was at a gas station, buying a few snacks for the long ride I had ahead of me. I happened to travel through one aisle as noticed an elderly couple sitting at a booth in the cafe part of the station. A boy, who looked to be about 17 years old was pushing a stroller, calmly, back and forth (I assumed he was rocking the child in the stroller to sleep). The elderly couple looked on with a look of disgust at the boy, who was dressed in clothes that reflected the punk generation. The elderly woman spoke up first, "Is that your child, boy?"
He answered, "Yes ma'am."
The elderly man spoke up next, "Don't you think you're too young to be a daddy?"
The boy replied, "Yes sir, I try my best to be a good father though."
Both the couple tsked tsked and looked down their noses at the boy, who had obviously become uncomfortable. Deciding it was time to leave, he pushed the stroller out of the store, saying "Have a good day." Acting compeltely polite despite the circumstances.
As he went out the door, I overheard the woman say "These kids today, they don't have any Christian values anymore!"
At first, I admit, my first thought was, "yeah, he's young, unmarried and has a child." And then, I realized, shouldn't we be thankful that the child was born, and not aborted? Instead of criticizing a teenage boy for mistakes he made, let's celebrate the fact that he and his, presumably, girlfriend, chose to have the child? I wanted to scream at the elderly people, "Are you a saint?! What happened to, 'let he who has not sinned cast the first stone'?" Sure, the teen made a mistake in having premarital sex, but the child that was concieved from the relationship is alive and has a father that cares for him.
I'm just baffled.
Ciao.
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- barbetti
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5 comments:
Some other points to make (on the same lines)...
Was he definitely "about 17"?
Could he have been, say, 19?
Was he definitely unmarried?
Was the pregnancy accidental? Or intended?
How old is the mother?
Don't you think things could have been a lot worse?
Well, the reason I'm guessing he's 17 is because he's a junior at the local high school, and juniors are 16 or 17 years old. I'm not sure the mother is in the picture because, since I see him pushing the stroller every day, he's always alone or with another couple, but never with another girl. I didn't assumed him to be married, as he wasn't wearing a ring (though that isn't a sure sign). With the way he answered the elderly man's questions, and how he shifted his feet, I took that as a sign that he wasn't prepared for the child, therefore he didn't plan the pregnancy.
By the way, nice to hear from you! It's only been forever.
This was a "Joel being hit with a frying pan" moment several years ago while travelling. I saw sooo many young girls with babies, I thought it was sad, but then I realized, praise the Lord they didn't abort their babies. =)
I can't believe that the old couple would actually say that to someone's face. "Don't you think your too young to be a father?"
"Yeah, sir, you're right, I'm just gonna dump this baby here and forget about the baby, thank you for convincing me, or did you want to take care of the baby, since ya know, you're 85 and obviously can take care of this child better than me at your age?"
STUPID.
That is some crazyness... grandma and grandpa are perfect dont forget... they never had sex before they were married... or did anything wrong... i guess we should tell kyle he is to young to be a dad and get rid of noah... what do you think like that idea... NO... i dont... retarded
Quite a story! It's sad that so many people, as they age, forget that nobody is perfect. My response is that it would have been a great thing if you could have casually approached this elderly couple and asked them if they thought it would have been a better idea if the mother had aborted the baby. Wouldn't it have been a nice gesture if they would have complimented him on taking responsibility instead of just being a sperm donor like so many young fathers are. Yes, premarital sex is wrong, and sex for recreation is wrong, but when we are too quick to judge we may miss a blessing in the process.
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