Ms Tephanie Rainey of Memphis is about to embark on the toughest journey of her life. Leaving her two kids while she is deployed in Iraq for a minimum of 12 months. Since Tephanie is a single mother, she is having to leave her kids with their Aunt while she is gone. While this must be extremely tough for the family, I suspect it is tough for Mothers who are married too. Leaving your kids to go to work everyday is tough period. Leaving them for months, even a year or more at a time is pure torture. For anybody!
Now. It seems Debbie Schlussel, a blogger who is fairly popular among conservative circles, is of the opinion that Single mothers should not have the same rights as everyone else....that the Military should not let single mothers in. She even goes so far as to call single military moms “useless soldierettes”. I admit am a somewhat liberal person, but really I try to stay out of politics when I write. What I am really needing to express here is that single mothers are no different than the rest of us in heart, mind and body. It is undoubtedly a tough decision for Ms Rainey to leave her kids for such a long time, But it is her decision. If she wants to make a better life for her family and has to miss a year or more of her childrens' lives to do it, who are we to meddle in that decision and tell her she cannot do that? In all fairness to Ms Schlussel, the original beef had nothing to do with Rainey, but was something about another single military mom who tried to get out of deployment when arrangements for child care fell through. However, I do not believe one person's misadventure and subsequent inappropriate action makes an entire segment of the population irresponsible.
There is no doubt that single military moms (and dads, by the way) have an added burden. Let us look for ways to raise them up and provide support however we can. Not break them down and critize with derogitory name calling and denouncement. Children of all people are our legacy. Let us give them all the hope we can. Starting with showing respect for their parents, no matter how many they have.
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