Echo Oprah – Be A Mentor

I heard today, on Oprah, that millions of kids have parents that spend only about 12 minutes face-time with them.

It sounds shockingly low, especially since I am a work-from-home mom and I treasure 12 minutes away from kids in my face (I’m exaggerating, my children are wonderful people and I choose this life). But, if you’re a single-parent with a full-time job and the kids go to bed by 7:30 p.m. it’s not hard to imagine that kids might only score 12 minutes of face-to-face talking a day.

One of my pet-peeves is complaining with no action. Not that I never do it, but I don’t do it indefinitely. I constantly see people deciding to home school rather than be involved in the public schools, going to church but never leaving that safe haven, succeeding in careers and forgetting what it was like to struggle and all the while complaining about what the world is coming to.

 For myself, there is no question that everyone should be doing something to make the planet a better place to live for everyone. If the rich don’t take care of the poor, if the successful don’t show the unsuccessful their trade secrets, if the reformed doesn’t help the unreformed, if the educated doesn’t help the uneducated we’re all screwed.

Well, then the downtrodden in our world become too violent, angry, and resentful to be anything but dangerous.

I’m a mentor and I encourage anyone who has one hour of boredom or depression in their week to join me. Service is the cure for both. All these kids need is one hour a week of someone taking the time to encourage better grades and say words like ”college” and “career” and “choices” in phrases that apply to them to make a difference. 

Be the Change. Be a Mentor. Go to www.mentor.org and find a program in your town. It costs nothing. Mentors do not have to be perfect. Literally anyone can do it. Yes, You too.