A letter - But is it the one you want?

A fellow single mom blogger posted a letter to the president, and encouraged others to do so also. So I'm thinking, what would I say to the president?

Dear Mr. Obama,

I honestly do not know what I would say. I have always been a single parent. Alone, alien and outcast. I have always worked and gone to school and taken care of my kid or kids.

I wish life were easier. I wish I had time off to take care of doctor's appointments and running errands. I wish that it were easier to find a job that pays what I am worth. All this screaming for science teachers, where's the demand now?

I wish that we single parents did not have to bully our way into the forefront. I wish that just because our children were from single parent homes, that educators would not classify them as at risk, or broken, or lacking in intelligence, social skills, or education.

I wish that political pundits were not allowed to pick on the poor and the single parents. I wish that all of society's problems were not made out to be my fault.

I wish so many things. But most of the time I am so busy with the thing in front of me . . . my son who is a slow reader and needs to be ready for middle school next year. My job and planning for the classes I teach. My car and is that rattle the muffler trying to fall off, that I can't worry about the I wishes.

Mostly I am extrordinarily blessed to live in this land. where women are free to pursue education and to raise families without the help of the sometimes worthless men in our lives. I am blessed with a brain and a foresight and a willingness to acquire skills now that will feed me in the future. I am glad I live in a time of internet and world news and awareness of the environment and technology.

And I want to thank this nation for all the help that it has given me during times that I needed it. And I want to encourage this nation to continue to offer helping hands to people of all genders and walks of life. I want to see a day when we don't have to worry about child support because all children are taken care of, and no child suffers a cold house, an empty belly, homelessness, lovelessness, hopelessness. And until that day, I say we keep working on it.

People should not be allowed to make babies and not support them. Women should not live in poverty and struggle to provide basic housing, clothing and educational needs of their children, while the fathers of the same children are free to do what ever. Each child should have the right to know where their parents are and to receive support from both parents. And no child should have to spend years in school hearing about how disadvantaged they must be.