Ronald Jackson will get my nomination for Father of the
Year. You see, Mr. Jackson was incarcerated after being charged for theft. The
story doesn’t seem odd at first but it does take a twist. Maybe Mr. Jackson had
a drug problem and was stealing in order to support his addiction; NOPE. Maybe
Mr. Jackson was charged with theft for making a beer run; Nope. Maybe Mr.
Jackson had a stint of bad fortune and was stealing in order to put food on his
table; Nope. Mr. Jackson was charged with theft for confiscating his 12 yr old
daughter’s iPhone 4! After monitoring his daughter’s text messages, he found a
text that was rude in nature and decided to exercise his parental judgment; by
taking his daughter’s cell phone (god) away.
As a parent, I would like to believe that children are a
gift from our Heavenly Father and my role as a parent is to be a good steward
of my children. This entails training, nurturing, supporting, guiding,
providing and disciplining my children in a way that gives them the highest
opportunity to become productive adults. If Mr. Jackson knew his role as a
parent and was playing that role well; there must be a problem with the state
of Texas knowing its role inside of a domestic household. Mr. Jackson stood his
ground and refused to give the iPhone back to his daughter until further
notice.
By the looks of things, there is coming a time when parents
will be disciplined by their children and hauled off to jail if they don’t
agree with the terms of the discipline. There is coming a time when the state
will oversee and over-run the family structure, ensuring that chaos permeates our
homes and neighborhoods, in order to justify their existence. But until that
time comes, I will stand on my watch as a parent, stand my ground as a parent
and keep some bond money tucked away, for when I’m jailed for being a parent.
