get me out of my mind

I watched a movie that really made me THINK about what it is to be a parent.

I don't think that was the intention of the filmmakers, but that's the effect it had on me.

In the movie, I saw parents doing everything they could think of to help their children succeed in life and have opportunities to make a better life. They were parents fighting challenges of the everyday, desperately trying to get their children one step further ahead in life then they had been themselves. And in the end, even with all the devotion, determination and dedication that these parents exerted, it wasn't enough.

While I was sad for those children, I was heartsick for their parents. I don't know if there's a greater sadness then failing your children, especially when you've sacrificed beyond measure to avoid it.

I catch myself sitting around feeling sorry or disappointed sometimes. It's not often, but it happens. Wondering what other peoples lives are like, and what they're doing. Am I doing enough? What AM I doing, really? Is it worth it?

The grass isn't greener anywhere. The push and pull of being a parent...it's the biggest challenge I can think of.

I don't have an ideal of what a parent should be. I don't even know what the end result for my child should be. But if I have half the devotion, determination and dedication to my child as the parents in the movie did, then I would consider that an accomplishment in itself, for both me and my kid.

When I finished the movie, I felt like those kids were the luckiest kids in the world. To have such devout people invested in your life, your happiness, it's incredible. Even though circumstance was not on their sides, their parents always would be.