I don't know how I would have turned out if I were born in a poor home or country or lacked the inspiration and motivation to excellance instilled by a wonderful mother and father. My heart with these uncertainties goes out to these groups.

I do know that no matter what obstacles we face in life we must face the truth that the longer we avoid personal responsibility, don't do the right things, and play the "blame game" the more we get entrenched in our problems. I also know that one must become a "producer and not just receiver" in society if one has good mental and physical health. I know that life is not fair but that is "planet earth."

Cosby is to be commended not despised for his counter-cultural political- social-economic views which is often not presented in the Black-American Community.

pat

Obama is delivering the same message in a speech to the NAACP:

""But we also have to demand more from ourselves," he said. "Now, I know there's some who've been saying I've been too tough talking about responsibility. But here at the NAACP, I'm here to report I'm not going to stop talking about it. Because ... no matter how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch -- none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives."

"Taking responsibility," he said, "means turning off televisions and putting away video games and providing direct guidance to children.

"Teaching our daughters to never allow images on television to tell them what they are worth; teaching our sons to treat women with respect, and to realize responsibility does not end at conception; that what makes them a man is not the ability to have a child but to raise one," he said. "That's a message we need to send."

Pat, you might be pleased to note that Senator Obama takes the same stance toward personal accountability and refusal to pin blame on others.

See this, for example.

Ha! Elaine beat me to it. Great minds, you know... ;-)

As a public school music educator, I encounter daily the damage that people like Cosby and Obama are trying to redress. I see it in the non-support of children in their homes, and of teachers who are making Herculean efforts to help these same children make up their educational deficits.

Cosby and Obama in this context, are pointing towards a more thorough joint venture.

Thanks...

Frank

Jared,
On that issue if so...bless Obama...it takes courage.

I do have compassion on the victims of "wrong education and influence"...that is the children. Somewhere Cosby's and Obama's message must cause them (the children) to see personal accountability.

From one "raised in blessing" but still the necessity of personal accountability.

pat

Cosby know the problem and he has better answers than most political leaders and most church leaders. He is no joke, he is for real. The Great Depression was a better era than the youth of today are entering.

Global warming is small stuff compared to the waste of human talent--its global, but to think it is here in the most "enlightened country in the world" That brings me back to the final lines of the poem: "Man with a Hoe" We are the last chance to answer that question and the best answer we get is from a comedian. We laugh, nod, and go on our way. Tom

All this is the effect of the breakdown of the traditional family in the black community.

That is the single most pressing factor here. On top of 300+ years of general assault, the state has replaced (made redundant) several generations of fathers with its welfare policies (and those of the War on Drugs as well, apparently).

I just wish people would do more than just shake their heads though. It is all our burden as well. What have you done about it? Who have you mentored and befriended?

"The state" only attempted to mitigate the consequences of the people abandoning these families. In general it did an admirable job. Like the military in Iraq there really are limits to what the government should be expected to do. It can't eliminate poverty but it could end hunger. The welfare policies were always a stop-gap measure. The rest of society (Especially those making hiring decisions) dropped the ball.

I also second Tom's observation about the "waste of human talent"; right on.