Neglect

A few days ago in class, we had a discussion on kids/animals being neglected. While having this discussion, it made me think of one of my best friends who I've known since I was born. Her parents are divorced and barely talk to each other because the mother never found it in her heart to forgive him for what he did. My friend, on the other hand, doesn't even live with her parents because her mom pays more attention to her boyfriend than her own daughter. She lives with her best friend who goes to a different school. I feel so bad for her because she keeps telling me that all she wants is to be a family again. All she has is her best friend, me, and her older brother.  I try to help her to the best of my ability, and it seems like she's a lot happier when she's around people who care about her. When Sal showed us clips of children being neglected, it broke my heart. I was in shock seeing kids like that being taken for granted. No child should go through what two of the girls had to when they were younger. I was very upset knowing that the biological parents of the children were okay with treating their kid like this. I remember one mother said, "I'm doing the best I can", when an FBI member came to their house. Truth be told, her best wasn't good enough. I believe that all children should be loved and cared for. The more they're payed attention to, the more they'll grow a social life and become familiar with people. My friend, whose parents don't pay attention to, does have many friends, but she feels such anger and pain towards  both her biological parents and step parents, because they do nothing but act like she doesn't exists. There have been times where she would experiment with drugs, but before she was actually going to do them, I (thankfully) talked her out of it. Being neglected isn't something to be proud of. Parent's should love a child/children unconditionally. Speaking from a teenagers point of veiw, teenagers may mess things up which cause their parents to get mad at them, but we're not perfect. I hope that someday there will be enough children in the world who will recieve the love and respect they deserve.