Sunday

A World Without Purpose

A high school in a small Massachusetts's town had 17 pregnant girls at the end of the school year.

Seventeen.

Apparently, these girls made a pact to get pregnant on purpose.  The majority of them are 16 years old or younger.

You can read the article here.  Here is an excerpt:

"Time magazine reporter Kathleen Kingsbury, who wrote the story, said the seaside city has experienced a lot of economic hardship and seems to have many young people without direction.

"They didn't have anyone really instructing them on how to create a life plan," she told CBC Newsworld by telephone.

"Some of them decided that this was going to be their life plan, that they were going to be mothers, and by being mothers, they would be someone."

This is so disturbing to me. 

Let's show our kids, by example, that our lives have purpose and direction because we follow Him.

Be purposeful.

Food for the Soul:

Psalm 33:11, "But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are no words to articulate how shocking this is to me. I saw the story first posted over on Bird on a Wire's blog and then it hit CNN, and the rest of the news outlets en masse, (and people wonder why we don't watch televions news any more), and I was just gobsmacked that these girls WANTED to do this.

Not only are they living with no purpose but they are incapable of thinking beyond themselves and into the lives of their future children's lives...what sort of future is there for them...babies being raised by babies. Intentionally no less.

Gloucester, MA, about 2 hours from where I live in Maine, is already a very economically depressed part of the coast, the small fishing community hit hard over recent years. These girls have almost surely doomed themselves to a life they hadn't expected in a million years...

It makes me sad...very sad.

Mama Smurf said...

I remember watching a talk show of some sort several years back (can't remember which one) and they had a group of ELEVEN year olds that were TRYING to get pregnant.

My son is now eleven.

I can't even fathom the absolute lack of love, supervision, education, and self respect in these kids' lives that would lead to this. It makes me so sad.

And now the cycle will continue with the babies that are born to these kids.

I respect your belief that this is a religious issue but I personally believe that this is about loving and educating our kids,supervising our kids and their activities, and giving them a sense of self respect through example.

Great post.

Anonymous said...

This is truly sad. I agree with you that we need to be living a godly example for our kids and to show them their incredible value as children of the King.

Anonymous said...

I am stunned and speechless. There are no words.

Anonymous said...

This is so sad and should really cause us to pause and think about
how and what our children are exposed to. I also agree that we need to be a godly example to ALL children and to show them that HE has a good purpose for their lives.

Anonymous said...

i posted about this too. i am horrified at the poor judgment of these kids. it's going to take more than a village to raise those innocent babies.

Dawn said...

I am so sad for these girls. They have no idea what they have done to their future. And, no idea that these sweet, innocent babies are not going to fill the void in their life, rather will only had to the difficulty.

This story scares me from a maternal perspective. I have one son and one daughter and can see the story through the perspective of a girl's mother AND as a son's mother. These girls have not only placed an additional hardship on their lives, but most probably on the life of a young boy as well.

Tammy said...

Like MANY others, I found this story truly disturbing.

I pray for my children often and I also pray for my husband and I. I pray that we lead them in the right direction and that we are teaching them how to make good decisions in life. My kids are still young and I don't have to deal with this type of behavior yet. But I pray the things I am teaching them now will help them make good decisions later in life.

I pray for the parents of these children (and yes, they are just children). Life for all of them is going to get really bumpy!

Melanie Sheridan said...

I posted about this too. It's sad and makes me a bit angry that these boys girls' parents weren't more aware of what their children were doing.

Unknown said...

Dang! Are none of the children in this town supervised? That's alot of h*anky-p*anky going on! Did the boys (and now future daddies) in this town know about this pact? Heavens to Betsy! I'm so shocked I really don't know what to say.

Happy Mommy said...

17, I am speechless! That is so sad. The poor girls have no idea what they have gotten themselves or these babies into!

I tagged you for a cooking meme.

Adrienne said...

When my daughter was 15 and going through (or beginning cuz shes still there are 21) her I HATE MOM faze. SHe decided she wanted to get pregnant for her 16 th bday. I sat her down and talked about how I completely understood she wanted a baby who would love her unconditionally because she was her mom and would be someone that would always love her and understand her and be there for her. I told her you were supposed to be that for me when I purposely got pregnant at 18, see how well it works? She (for once) listened and heeded what I said (and it was the last time too). She did not get pregnant at 16, instead she ran off got married and pregnant and divorced all at 19. Oh well. At least she waited a little while.

Anonymous said...

PS. One of them needed to find a boy to get her pregnant and resorted to a homeless man.

This story is beyond sad.

Lynn said...

Oh my, this is shocking, tragic, and so sad. Especially the last comment! This just breaks my heart!

Anonymous said...

Isn't that Awful!?!?

Things like that go on around here in my neck of the woods, too!
My Neice was in on one of those groups....her baby will be one in July!

Colleen - Mommy Always Wins said...

I read the article on CNN.com and was a-freaking-stounded. I mean, parents...where ARE you?!? No, that's wrong...where WERE you?!? So sad...cuz they're going to have those babies and they'll quickly realize its not all coos and cute faces and "aw, isn't she sweet". RUDE awakening - and those poor babies will suffer for it!

twin power mommy ♥ said...

It just sickens me....

Jamie said...

Reading this just makes my heart ache. So sad.

Kristi said...

AMEN! SISTER!

Lisa said...

Very disturbing, very. Where in the world are we headed and yet as educated, as progressive as this country is, we still have stuff like this going on. so tragic and so sad.

Jenileigh said...

How sad. There are so many lost in the world. We just aren't reaching enough of them each day. Your words are so true, so many were raised by parents who didn't know or maybe they knew but didn't teach their children the truth and it just passes down through the generations unless someone, somehow obeys the Holy Spirit and shares the truth with, shows them the real love of Christ, reaches out to them. I'll be praying for them, all 17 of them and their little town.

Unknown said...

This is VERY disturbing!!

Children need to be not only taught about the Lord, but shown by our example. And we need regular communication and our children need more supervision.

We just witnessed a party on our street Sat. night & called the cops. There were MANY teenagers and some broke bottles in street and drove over lawns. And we live in a "nice" neighborhood! Looked like the party was just starting up around 11pm and then all the "action" was around 1:30-2:30 AM. And I just wonder...why are the parents letting the kids stay out like that and do they have any idea where they are & what they're doing?

We need to keep praying!

Dawn @ simply transparent said...

Some have also blamed Hollywood for glamourizing pregnancy with movies such as Juno and Knocked Up, plus Nickelodeon star Jamie Lynn Spears becoming a mother this week at age 17.


Are the parents not aware of their own children's idols?!
I'm shocked that others are shocked at this news.
So really this doesn't surprise me!

Anonymous said...

If one of those girls spent a day with my kids there would be one less pregnant teen. Seriously,I think it's pretty sad such young girls think that in order to be someone they have to have a child. What about college, a career, volunteering? Having kids is wonderful,a gift from God, but it shouldn't define who you are.

Anonymous said...

I saw that article the other day. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Anonymous said...

I just keep asking,"In what world do 15 year olds WANT to have babies???" They ARE babies. It saddens me to think that these young girls who despite their family circumstances, could have so much potential and have blown all the promise with a single "stupid" act. I'm old (52) but I can remember at THAT age...boys still had COOTIES.

And what of the school nurse who repeatedly gave these youngsters pregnancy tests? Did she not have some responsibility to say something to someone???

Pray, sisters. Pray hard and long. Our world is not what it used to be. We need God now more than evah!