I was in the middle of cleaning the gym floor in church when Pastor told me he and one of the youth group leaders were going to drive one of the kids out to a graveyard. The kid’s mother died earlier this year, and according to Pastor, the kid didn’t attend the funeral. Today would be the first time they were visiting the grave site. “Keep him in your prayers,” Pastor said. “I’ll pray that the kid stops acting stupid and rude,” I thought to myself. I don’t like that particular kid. I’ve mentioned him in an earlier post, where the kid and I seem to have agreed to keep on ignoring each other like we normally do.
The kid’s mom died from a drug overdose. Pastor had asked the congregation to help out with funeral costs because the family couldn’t cover it. What Pastor doesn’t know is that not everyone in church was happy to help. One member told a group of us that they were offended that Pastor would ask people to give money for someone who spent most of their time being drugged up. They said out loud what a lot of people were thinking. I gave money, because I remembered how hard it was for me to scrape up money for my younger sister’s funeral. The gesture was done more for the family in general, not particularly for the kid.
After Pastor left, I thought of how irresponsible the kid’s mother was. Apparently, getting to the next high was more important to her than her kids (she had a daughter, as well). Drugs were certainly more important than teaching her cocky, smart-assed son how to act in public. Once again, society gets put upon with the burden of yet another kid because of a parent whose priorities weren’t in order.
