Troubled People

I have been reading and commenting on that Facebook friend's blog for many years. I do not think he ever commented on anything I wrote. Understandable when he was still homeless, blogging via WiFi enabled computer, sitting at McDonald's or Internet type cafe. He had no need for me as a reader or as a Facebook friend ~ he has plenty of them. He is a talented writer with a variety of interests and talents. I have offered encouragement when he was feeling down, praised him sincerely, and disagreed when I did, disagree with something he wrote.

He does have a know-it-all attitude, especially when it comes to the subject of homelessness. Much, like his Facebook status update about troubled youth, he tends towards absolutes. Most of the times I disagreed with something he wrote, was likely due to his seeing things in a black and white way, that totally ignores homelessness, its causes, from a female perspective. How easy to say "You have a point there," or "I was speaking about...", then giving an example of what he meant by bad parenting. How easy for me to just let it go, but I did not.

Another reason children become troubled is when their parent's divorce. With statistics showing that about 40% of marriages ending in divorce, could say that there are an awful lot of parents who "screwed up" ~ his words. Or the man was suggesting that all divorced parents need to be sterilized and have their children taken from them due to producing troubled youth through bad parenting. In my comment mentioning this, I also asked about where these children would be taken? Who would raise them? Who would foot the bill? Reply?

Removed me as his Facebook friend. I am guessing he also blocked me on Facebook. I will miss him, because reading his blog has become a chore. Reason: he posts a lot of slow-loading stuff, sometimes the stuff does not load at all. An example would be a Google map, the live kind, not a screen shot image. It was easier to read his many status updates at Facebook, view his shared videos, use links to read articles.

His reply to one of his other friend's comment was something about the truth hurts and it should hurt them ~ the bad parents. I guess my truth hurt him and he quickly ditched me. Maybe I should just have asked "Are you talking about your ex-wife and troubled daughter?" Or just speaking in a general sort of way? He did not stick around to raise his children; when he felt his wife wanted a divorce, he kissed them goodbye and left in the middle of the night, spending the bulk of their growing up years living on the streets.

Was his status update aimed at his wife's parenting skills? Or at his own self? Truly a child can become trouble when a parent walks out on them, having nothing to do with their lives. Sometimes I think it is better, upon divorce, that the children stay with one parent, the other bowing out, just as he did. This alleviates one parent using the children to get back at the other spouse.

He may also have been speaking of his own parents, who he blames for his own troubled life. Maybe some day the former Facebook friend, homeless blogger will come to understand that his parents were infallible human beings ~ much like himself and the rest of us. Maybe not. I will never know because Thou shalt not try to reason with a child or stubborn person.