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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Sad state of affairs, the future is bleak

UPDATE TO THIS STORY!
Brian Holloway is now pressing charges. I have NO sympathy for the children who did this, and I applaud him for the effort he made in trying to HELP them.  But apparently those kids don't NEED his help, so he is WELL within his rights to press charges.

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Just when I think I can't get any more discouraged about the generation being raised today, something comes along to lower my expectations even more. It makes me wonder what kind of job I'm doing as a parent. I'm so disgusted right now after reading Facebook, I can't even put my thoughts together. This post may not be the high quality Pulitzer-prize-winning blog post you've come to expect from me, but that's because I'm writing it between dry heaves in the damn bathroom. Let me 'splain.

My friend Marguerite just posted a link to a story that I hadn't heard before. Now that I've read it, I want to vomit. An ex-NFL player, Brian Holloway owns a house in Stephentown, NY and another, which is his primary residence, in Florida. Over Labor Day weekend, when Holloway was at his home in Florida, his son contacted him to let him know that he had seen some disturbing activity on Twitter, apparently there was a break-in at Holloway's Stephentown home, and kids were tweeting that there was a huge party there. 300 kids showed up. 300 kids did over $20,000 worth of damage to this man's home. 

Take that in for a moment: 300 kids broke into this man's home and did $20,000 in damage. Piss on carpets, broken windows, garbage strewn all over, spray paint all over the walls, a statue was stolen, but eventually returned (thank God SOMEONE had a conscience). Some of the tweets about this party were sickening. How about this one: "So glad my parents don't give a fuck what I do" or maybe this one: "yeah mom, I went to a party and got drunk but hey at least I'm not a meth addict".

Seriously? Do you think your mom is happy about that? What kind of children are these parents raising?? Oh my God I'm just speechless. But wait, there's more. Sit down, this is going to come as a bit of a shock:

Brian Holloway may actually be getting sued by the parents of the 300 kids who trashed his house. SUED. Why? Because he had the audacity to try to HELP these kids. How dare he?? Rather than to go straight to the police and seek to press charges, he did something amazing. He created a website, and tried to reach out to these kids to try to HELP them before they do something tragic. He's buried several friends who passed away too soon from drugs and alcohol, so he set up a website, attempting to identify the 300 kids, and invited them to come to his property for a picnic he planned to host for veterans, asking them to help clean up and try to make some amends.  He's identified at least 100 of the 300 kids, and on his website, HelpMeSave300, has pictures and tweets that were posted on Twitter by these kids. Read that again. These kids posted their pictures and tweeted about the party on Twitter for the whole world to see. Yet, these parents are looking to sue him for posting these pictures and names on his website. How utterly disgusting is that? Is it me? Am I out of line here?  And do you know how many of these kids and their parents showed up to the picnic? 4. FOUR. 4 of the 300 students came to his house and helped. MIND = BLOWN.

What does this say about the PARENTS?? That these parents would rather SUE this man, who is the VICTIM here, for putting their kids on his website, than to have their children step up and take responsibility for their actions. I'm utterly aghast and I don't think I've ever actually been aghast before. And let me tell you, it's not a good feeling.

Look, if it was my kid who was involved, I'd want to know about it. If it was my kid who was stupid enough to tweet about it and post pictures of themselves trashing a stranger's house, I'd damn sure want to know about it, and I'd DAMN sure hold my child accountable for her actions. My child may be too old for me to beat her ass, but don't think I wouldn't try if she did something as incredibly horrific and stupid as this.

Accountability. Responsibility. Conscience. What the hell happened to those three things?

I applaud Brian Holloway, he's a better person than I will ever hope to be. I'd be looking for restitution and justice. He's just looking to help these kids turn around and be productive. That is something that their PARENTS should be doing, but apparently, that's just not the case.

15 comments:

  1. The ass-kickin' should start with the parents.

    I volunteer.

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  2. Aghast and puking. I'm with Fearless Leader, I too volunteer.

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  3. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=516893461679255&set=a.511428455559089.1073741829.511423845559550&type=1&ref=nf

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  4. I can't ... I just ... the parents ... Christ on a crutch, what is WRONG with them? If my kids ever do anything like that, I will end them. Unbelievable.

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    1. Sad that these kids are being allowed to do whatever the hell they please.

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  5. just. wow. and yikes. dealing with parents who believe their children are untouchable and thereby teaching them NO responsibility....gah. Just yuck.

    Thank you for bring this up - it shows a good lesson I will be sharing with Eldest.

    And seriously - i'd like to write a letter in support of this man. And one to kick some sense into those parents...and their true spawn.

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    1. Oh I will definitely be showing this to my own kids Joy, and letting them know how hard I would kick their asses if this were ever to happen here.

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  6. I'm pretty sure those parents just failed at their job.

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    1. I agree, Rose. Here's the thing: I am a parent and I know it's NOT an easy job. But come on, this is a no-brainer. It's not like 'oh we don't know if we should punish them because they forgot to load the dishwasher or take out the trash' for crying out loud. This is a pretty easy one to figure out. You attend a party, you PROUDLY post your pics on FB and Twitter, you ruin a man's property, YOU GET YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU AND YOU DO RIGHT BY THE MAN!!! It's not all that hard.

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  7. This truly is shocking. I've always wondered about this culture of suing everyone for anything and everything. It's gone way too far now. The UK has picked up the habit and it doesn't look to good from where I'm standing.

    There should be no less than a public outcry about these wicked kids. And I say wicked because after they trashed the house they still had the guts to put their faces on a social site and brag about it. It's a shame mate. And shame on the parents who didn't turn up. They should be thanking this man for not getting the police involved immediately as their own children might have been sitting in jail right now.

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    1. Exactly right!! It's sickening to think that these 296 parents did NOTHING to help this man after their children acted so irresponsibly. I could NOT in good conscience, sit back and allow my children to get away with this.

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  8. I saw this story on the news the other day and I was appalled at the damage those kids did. Like you, I am OUTRAGED at these parents. Why the HELL do people like this have children when they don't even give a damn what their kid is doing? So many asshat adults out there raising kids who are now the "me" generation and don't give a crap about anyone else. it's sickening and frightening all at once.

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  9. I blame the Disney Channel. Zack and Cody don't have consequences for deceitful, careless, selfish acts. Why should our kids?

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