Thursday, November 6, 2008

I really think I prefer when my head is firmly planted in the sand

I was just reading a news article, in which a 9 year old girl in Massachusetts was kicked off the bus by the bus driver, on a busy street, far from her home, just because she got up and switched seats without permission. She could have gotten hit by a car, she could have gotten kidnapped, and worse. Luckily, another student who got off at that stop told his parent, and that parent got the girl and drove her home. People are outraged, the driver was fired. I'm so glad it all ended well.

But while reading the news article and the accompanying comments, I came across this one:

So the liberals come out in force to fuss and whine about this poor child, and the poor single mother fighting against sexism. Boo hoo hoo.

Fact is, if your child has a different name than the mother, then something's wrong. The mother should put EVERYTHING into creating a solid family with a mother AND a father. Not a family with a single mother. Not a 'solid' family with two mothers. Not a 'solid' family with two fathers.

A mother and a father. Instead of wasting time crying about this daughter she couldn't even bother to DRIVE to school, she runs off to the Telegram and the police.

Stop fussing about this, and figure out how to marry well (and no, 'Ellen' or 'Rosie' doesn't count). If you can't do that, and teach your child how to walk along Route 9 and how to CROSS THE STREET!

-Telling it like it is
There is SOOO much I could say about this person's comment. But I'm going to focus on just the first point, which I've bolded above: "If your child has a different last name than the mother, then something's wrong". Wow.* People still think like this? When I give my name and my child's name for school registration or doctors appointments or...whatever, the person I'm dealing with may be a person who gets a little blip in their brain and assume that our family life is 'wrong'? That I'm a bad mom? That my kid suffers in a poor environment? That I'm immoral in some way?

I guess I thought that we were past this kind of thinking. It's a new world out there. I didn't know I was getting looked down on because I have a different last name than my kid.

This just makes me very sad.



* (In case anyone didn't know, I have a different last name than The Boy. I went back to my maiden name when I divorced DF; the reasons behind the decision would be a whole 'nother post.)

4 comments:

Jess said...

Just one look at your son, his sense of perspective and responsibility, his humour, his intelligence, should be enough to drive "Telling it like it is" back into whatever hole they grew up in.

I say "should", but obviously that much ignorance comes with the hide of a rhinoceros.

Anonymous said...

Good grief. (That is a thoroughly toned-down version of the original string of obscenities that came out of my mouth.) Not only do I totally disagree with everything this idiot has to say, but I am REALLY horrified that somehow it is ALL the mother's responsibility. Um, the child's father has no responsibility here? And that is putting aside the homophobia entirely.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame the Internets don't have a moron filter. [sigh]

Your son is awesome. I can tell this just from the things you have told us about him. ;)

I also came from a single parent family and I honestly believe that if I'd grown up in the same household as my father, I'd be a much less rounded, angrier, more confused person (much like my half-brother).

In short, people are arseholes. :)

jenn said...

I, too, have a different last name from my boy.

And I have a bunch to the throat for anyone who wants to be an ass in person about this.

Yep!