As humans grow into maturity, we all develop ways of thinking, we all have to accommodate other people and their needs and desires; we all have to, literally get along. Most of what makes our patterns of life are unconsciously absorbed from our parents: and it is a fact that, from birth to five years-old, children absorb and learn everything which serves as a base for their future growth and life. My own philosophy, which I can state is mine own because it works for me, has grown over the years to encompass my family, the ones I love without exception. Put plainly, it states: ‘You can only play the cards that you are dealt’.
I have learnt that ‘Responsibility’, that ‘Duty’, that ‘Family’; are more than words: they are signposts by which one human being has, and indeed continues; to learn, and to accept that which he has undertaken. I tend to ‘tell it as I see it’, and if that means I come across as hard, bitter and uncompromising; so be it. Life is hard, and uncompromising; and if you don’t stand up, speak out and fight for what you believe in: you really shouldn’t have bothered! I have compassion, but not for fools; not for those who simply ‘knew best’!
I have striven, over the years, to advise my kids (now of course adults all themselves), from my own experiences and knowledge. I hope that, when my time to die arrives, they will look back upon the times, decisions, beliefs and actions of my life, and determine, ‘he did his best’. They might reminisce of the many times I told of the same happenings, and of the equal number of times they refrained from telling me they had heard it all before; but if that was a failing, hopefully it will be one of the few. I have given my kids advice on many subjects, but never insisted on holding to that advice, because they all have to make their decisions, all of which in the light of ‘what is best for them, and their families’. I hope that my life will be reflected in the lives of my sons and daughter; along with the four bundles of nitro-glycerine masquerading as grandsons. My family is, in mine own view, my attempt at immortality; and I would, and indeed have done, deal out extreme physical damage to one who would even think of assaulting or attacking my kids.
So it is that I can read of a death which should not have happened; should not have even been contemplated: and simply came too early in a lifespan which could have been counted in the decades: and state, categorically that this was due to a failing on the parents’ side. The young person, described by parents as a delightful strong-willed, caring and compassionate child (who) had developed into a courageous and confident young woman, was, unfortunately, nothing of the kind. She was, instead, wilful, headstrong, disdainful of advice which might have saved her bloody life: she thought she was ‘Invincible’.
Sorry, darlin’, the only Invincibles I know come care of Marvel Comics, and they only have a shelf life. The parents did not get their daughter into the single state of mind which told her “The only pills I take are from either a registered pharmacist or chemist, or a pack which has been supplied on a doctor’s prescription.” The parents might have stated, as reported in the news article, ‘“Leah had the benefit of good information and advice from many different sources at various intervals of her adolescent life,” as well as “Leah was well aware of the nature of different illicit substances and the risks attached.”: but she wasn’t warned harshly or strongly enough. ‘She was only fifteen, she wasn’t, as they stated, ‘a courageous and confident young woman’, she was, in reality, a spoiled brat who wouldn’t be told; wouldn’t take advice; and she died because of her own stupidity, and because the parents were simply not good enough!
Fire, Pillage & Plague 