Dear Mother in Baltimore

I have seen you go viral over the last twenty-four hours.  There are a great number of people singing your praises, and there are a great number of people condemning you. 

You saw your son, a 16 year old man sized person, standing in a group of others, assaulting police officers.  The tensions were high, the danger was massive, and you were scared and outraged. 

I am sure that seeing your son in the midst of that crowd was very surprising to you.  It could not have been easy seeing your adult sized offspring acting violently towards an officer of the law.  I imagine that with all of the violence occurring around your son, it must have been so frightening, and I can imagine frantically thanking the Lord that he was not harmed.

Your actions towards your son spoke of a frightened and overwhelmed mother.  Some criticize those actions.....However, I commend you for taking action.  Instead of encouraging your son to act violently towards the men and women out there trying to uphold the law and protect us, you took action.  Instead of being an absent parent, ignoring your son, you stepped up to stop him in his tracks.  Instead of being one of the "parents" out there hooked on drugs instead of being involved in their kids' lives, you found your son, and rescued him.

The people out there saying that your actions were not the answer do not give an answer as to what exactly you should have done that would have been effective.  Should you have casually walked up to your son, had a lengthy discussion as to why his actions were dangerous, and then calmly asked him to leave?  Amidst such violent chaos? I don't suppose that would have been received well.

Should you have let your son continue his violence towards police, and then waited until he came home (if he came home and didn't get killed in action), to address his misbehavior out of the public eye?

I'm not sure what those nay-sayers would deem an appropriate response, but I can say this.  In a day when children have been taught to be self absorbed, to not be punished when they commit crimes, and in a world where people are flocking to terrorist organizations.....I say thank you.  Thank you for stepping in and keeping your son from becoming a statistic, a prisoner, a young victim of the violence. 

We have people who jump at the chance, any chance to destroy others' property and steal from local businesses.    We have teenagers who think it's great to pour urine all over special needs class mates.  We have a generation of young people who lack respect for authority.

So, were your actions mother-of-the-year actions....no, but hey, I'm no mother of the year myself.  Were your actions just that...ACTION...


YES!

You took action to get your son out of that situation.  Who are we to say that you could have approached it any other way? 

I say thank you for being an active parent.