Who are the people in your neighborhood

I often look at pictures on Facebook and think these pictures might be appropriate advertisements for Bedlam.

Tongue sticking out, arms spread wide as if bowing for some great accomplishment like drinking straight from a bottle of booze, does not feel like a particularly laudable lifestyle.

It seems to me that if I were advertising my best self for the world to see and applaud I could do better than that.

Even worse, are pictures of the parents doing similar things. Bragging about how much wine they need, how hedonistic they are after work, feels like it is misleading to offspring who may never have the education, desire, nor money in a future being built on these straw foundations.

I am all for loving each other for who we really are, but a more realistic view of the future means I want my children to know how to do more than be codependent.

Teenagers are young, ignorant and under many misconceptions. They may equate a speeding car with skill, when it only means they know how to put their foot down. The same is true about making faces and guzzling booze from a bottle. Any child given the chance can do these things. It requires nothing. No skills. No creativity. No anything.

People deserve to know they can do better than that.