Baldo by Hector D. Cantú and Carlos Castellanos for October 17, 2012
October 16, 2012
October 18, 2012
Transcript:
Dad: Hey, something on your mind? Baldo: Well, it seems Cruz has it rough at his house. Baldo: I wish there was something I could do. Baldo: Uh... you probably... um... worry too much. Baldo: It's okay, Dad... I'm not asking him to move in with us. Dad: I guess I worry too much, too!
That’s kind of sad. My sister had a friend who had it “kind of rough” at her house, and she moved in with us for two years – and she said it made a huge difference in her life. And my brother had a friend who had it “kind of rough”, and he AND his little brother moved in; he’s family, now, and has made a real success of himself.
More to the point, though: having seen kids living with abuse and alcoholism and drug use, the whole “uh, you probably worry too much” is a pathetic cop-out and dangerously dismissive. It’s easy to handwave away the idea that a kid really does live in a dangerous situation, but sometimes that just leaves the kid in a really, truly, horrible place, and after such a dismissal convinced that no-one will believe them, or help.