My Kids
In east Hialeah, between a generic Cuban cafeteria and a Pizza Hut, there is a karate school. There are 50 to 100 kids running around in there at any given time. Those kids were MY kids and I loved them.
I taught them to share, put on their uniforms, tie their shoes, and write cursive, add, subtract and do long division. I taught them how to be considerate of other people, how to stand their ground when people want to step on them. I taught the girls how to beat the boys at sparring and I taught them both that girls are just as smart, strong, and capable as boys are. I taught them to play nice and respect their elders. Those kids are still MY kids and I love them.
Now I'm afraid that an over-grown child with no education, life or future teaches my kids to be losers. I'm afraid he tells them that I don’t love them anymore if they ask where I have gone. Is he teaching them to be weak like he is? I don't know, or want to know. I want to remember them as MY kids the way they were. And I still love them.
And if I go back, they won't be the same. And he'll look at me the way he does and make me feel like I'm invading his territory. And I just wish I could go back to the way things were before. Just for my kids, I would do that whole horrid thing all over again. Just for them. Because they are MY kids and I love them.
I taught them to share, put on their uniforms, tie their shoes, and write cursive, add, subtract and do long division. I taught them how to be considerate of other people, how to stand their ground when people want to step on them. I taught the girls how to beat the boys at sparring and I taught them both that girls are just as smart, strong, and capable as boys are. I taught them to play nice and respect their elders. Those kids are still MY kids and I love them.
Now I'm afraid that an over-grown child with no education, life or future teaches my kids to be losers. I'm afraid he tells them that I don’t love them anymore if they ask where I have gone. Is he teaching them to be weak like he is? I don't know, or want to know. I want to remember them as MY kids the way they were. And I still love them.
And if I go back, they won't be the same. And he'll look at me the way he does and make me feel like I'm invading his territory. And I just wish I could go back to the way things were before. Just for my kids, I would do that whole horrid thing all over again. Just for them. Because they are MY kids and I love them.