LINDSAY, ARE YOU LISTENING?

In spite of the inclination to say, “She brought it upon herself,” I have to say that I feel really bad about Lindsay Lohan’s very public struggle to get to a good place in her life. It’s all well and good to know that someone is suffering the consequences of what they knew their actions would bring – and lord knows that all of us who have made it to senior adulthood know from experience that consequences are mostly not fun – but what is scary is that these just desserts may just not be the last she is going to eat.

Young people don’t like to hear what older people advise them. If there is a consequence to pay, the young person too often thinks that it may happen to some people but it is not going to happen to them. I always think it is like an illustration of a small child who keeps running into the street. As an adult we know that sooner or later this child is going to be hit by a car, so we tell them not to run there. The child may not be hit this time or even next time but it WILL happen and the results will be just awful. We are not saying this to cramp a kid’s style or to show them that we are smarter than they are. We just know that certain things will happen sooner or later.

Lindsay keeps running into the street. Whether a short stay in the pokey will get her attention and change her mindset is an unknown. She is a darling girl and I think all moms everywhere would like to wrap their arms around her and tell her that she’s worth saving and she must get a new and different lifestyle to make it happen.

I read a really touching book recently, a book called “Orange is the New Black” by Piper Kerman. As a young woman she did some drug trafficking and ten years later she was arrested and convicted for her part in the scheme. The author subsequently spent about thirteen months in a women’s prison. I wish Lindsay Lohan would read Piper’s story, take what lessons she sees in it and begin molding her own life in a new direction.

We all hope this beautiful young woman whom we have watched grow up before our eyes can take her medicine, take some advice from those who want her to have a happy life and a long career, and start over again.