Ghetto bunnies. Heh heh. That's what my grandma calls 'em. Ghetto bunnies are kids who hang out in the streets of the Bronx all day and who never amount to anything. Their only purpose in life is to pump out babies and have the taxpayer subsidize them. Sounds like a cliche, doesn't it? But I look out my window and that's exactly what I see. Ghetto bunnies everywhere!
I had some pretty liberal and civil-minded friends in college. And although I like to consider myself a champion of the poor and discriminated (being that I've been both), at the same time I would tell these friends that all their textbook and cozy notions of the underprivileged denizens of the so-termed "ghetto" are not as innocent and helpless and you'd like to think. After all, I was a product of the same environs, and yet I ended up going to a prestigious private college on a scholarship.
So where did I go right where so many in my exact same predicament went wrong? Hint: the answer is not "The Man."
The Man did not keep these kids back and spring me forward. The Man did not tell them to treat school like a joke, or to expect society to give them that which they did not rightfully earn. A good life is not something you are handed; you have to WORK for it. You are not the be all and end all of existence -- you have to fight for what you want, or else get the **** out of the way and let someone else get his.
I bring all this up because I suffered yet another sleepless night last night due to all the teenagers hollering and screaming in the park across the street. They kept it up until 2 in the morning. Since it's not possible for me to sleep in a room with windows closed, I had to suffer the full brunt of this nonsense. And I'm a terribly light sleeper. I wake up if a mouse farts!
But I comforted myself in the knowledge that these bunnies will never make it anywhere in life. Or maybe that's not such a comforting thought. Because, let's face it, if you're up until 2 am on a Sunday night/Monday morning, then it's obvious you don't take your schooling very seriously.
I shake my head. What do these kids expect in life? Why has no one conveyed to them the fact that high school is way more serious than one thinks? What you do (or do not do) in those 4 years has serious repercussions on the rest of your life. It sounds cheesy, but it's true! If you don't take high school seriously, you won't take college seriously. And anyone who thinks they can make it through this world without at least a college education is seriously delusional. We don't live in that kind of world anymore. We haven't for a long time, in fact.
I just think it's sad that for a group of people that whine and complain so much about how society is keeping them down, that they exhibit no motivation to lift themselves up and do something about it. The Jews, Irish, Italians -- hell, even African and Mexican immigrants new to this country all exhibited the same thing in common that these ghetto bastards lack. DRIVE!
It has nothing to do with being black or hispanic. Ethnicity is not the problem. It's that stupid ghetto mentality that life owes you a favor -- that having fun FIRST will get you somewhere -- that is dooming millions of young people in this country.
You could blame the parents if you want to, but teenagers are old enough to make decisions for themselves. My grandmother raised us, but she wasn't too involved with our school work. I had no one telling me to go to college, and to therefore get good grades in high school. My motivation was myself. In a real sense I had no parent. But I knew enough to want something better for myself. That's all the motivation I needed.
Why is it so hard for teenagers in poverty to get this? Being poor is not an excuse. Being ignorant is your own fault.