From the concrete.... Who knew that a flower could grow

"Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared. " ~ Tupac shakur

Now when you read the passage above and your think about what was being said he's talking bout the underdog making a way out of no way something that some of us are very familiar with while others will never know the real meaning of struggle.

Let's talk a little bit about statistics, we hear all the about different statistics single mothers, children in single family homes, labor statistics, education statistics and one thing that they all have in common is that they are against us. They tell is in so many ways that were never gonna make it we don't have a chance!

It is interesting that poverty usually breeds poverty, just as education breeds education. That means that where a family is situated on the socioeconomic ladder often will prevent or enhance opportunities for their children to advance in education, which results in earning a higher income.
It is often referred to as a "trap" that people are not able to get out of. Hence, the comparison.

Another interesting fact is that there are notable people, some of them celebrities, that had an opportunity to break out of the status quo and gain more education and move to better neighborhoods, even to mansions or castles. I'm thinking of several NBA players, as well as in other sports.
They saw an opportunity, or their parents did, and they took it, enabling them to conquer poverty in their lifetime.

A third facet is the appreciation for life, an appreciation for what one has, an appreciation for spending money wisely, learning how to make it stretch and last until the next check is earned. Young people are so concerned with keeping up with the latest trend an buying the most expensive fashion all while not attempting to save a single dollar for our children's education and thus keeping the cycle going. If you camping outside of footlocker over night to buy Jordans and spending $300 a month on 16" silky straight virgin human Remi but you have no plan for childs future you are failing your child. If and when someone is able to rise above the poverty by hard work, courage, and insight about making good decisions, then they are more appreciative of the good life and want to improve the lives of their loved ones. Usually. Not always. So maybe that isn't a fact, then. But it's a phenomenon that occurs enough to be noticed.

I can remember growing up father would always tell me "Don't go broke trying to look rich" and I never really understood what he meant until these past few years.

What I'm saying in a nutshell is that as parents we are the first step to getting our kids out the cycle. I refuse to believe that if children had the opportunity to go to school and not worry about anything but getting an education that we would have such a high drop out rate. I refuse to believe that young girls aspire to grow up and be strippers & prostitutes young men to become dope dealers an thieves. They resort to things because they don't know anything else and to be real they gotta do what they gotta do. Our human survival instincts at some point kick in and put survival before our moral standards.

We have to break the cycle allow your child to be the flower that grows from the concrete.