Quote Originally Posted by Marigold2 View Post
Walking 8 miles to get a GED try walking 8 miles in a city blown to peices and burning, no food no water and the stench of the dead everywhere. That is WW11 was.
You're comparing apples to oranges here. Each generation has done what it needed to do to survive. Neither circumstance is desirable. The woman who walks 8 miles each way to get her GED deserves credit, someone to pat her on the back and say "Atta girl!". She needs encouragement so that she won't give up and stay in those conditions. She's at least trying, she's making an effort and, hopefully, once she gets her GED, she'll get a decent job so that she can improve her living conditions. She's trying to help herself and thus help her kids, as you say they must do and I don't disagree. If her kids see her placing such a high value on education that she's willing to brave the elements and make that long trip on foot each day, chances are that they'll value an education, too, and will follow in her footsteps to better their own lives. She is not a horrible mother; she's a mother who has no outside help, no examples to emulate, a mother who is trying her best. She isn't abandoning her children; she's setting an example for them. Yes, she smokes. Yes, she probably has a TV. Who would begrudge her those simple pleasures, regardless of our stand on smoking and the resultant health issues? I hope and pray that she doesn't lose hope, that she makes it and proves the naysayers wrong.