Easy to Get Into, Difficult to Get Out Of…

By John Kuykendall

As a reporter, there are times you have to write those bad news stories, and sometimes they are about people you know, and that makes it even more difficult.
That was the case for me last week when I had to write about a teenager I’ve watched grow and develop over the years being arrested.
Writing bad news is not a fun part of the job, but it has to be done. Having to write something bad about someone you know make it even more difficult. It has happened to me several times over the years, but it never gets easier to do.
Growing up in rural Harris County, I was lucky enough to have a grandmother who believed in punishment. At the time, I thought she had to be one of the meanest people in the world. As I grew older, I realized it was her stern ways – and knowing she would punish me – that helped me stay out of trouble as a young person and kept me on the right path as I grew older.
“If you are stupid enough to get into trouble don’t expect me to help get you out,” my grandmother would always say to me.
She had plenty of those old clichés to throw around, but she was better at swinging a razor strap. For those of you that have no idea what that is, it’s a wide long piece of leather. It’s wider and thicker than a belt and if you are hit with it once, you never want to be hit with it again.
When I was a very young boy, there was a store not far from our home and my grandmother would send me there once in a while to get something. Mr. Milner owned the store and I got to know him pretty well. Back then, almost everyone in Harris County knew each other.
Anyway, this one day my grandmother sent me to the store to pick up some items. When I was leaving the store, Mr. Milner gave me a couple pieces of what was called back in the day a “penny piece of candy.”
I ate one of the pieces and kept a couple of pieces in my pocket for a treat to enjoy later. I forget just how my grandmother found the candy, but she did.
“Did you steal this,” she asked pushing the candy close to my face.
“No Ma’am,” I said. “Mr. Jessie gave it to me.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute,” she said. “We are going to visit Mr. Jessie and you had better hope he gave you that candy.”
I knew what that meant, but luckily I also knew I had dodged the leather strap.
My grandmother and I made our way to the store and Mr. Jessie told her that he had in fact given me a few pieces of the candy to try.
My grandmother was really relieved that she was not raising a thief and I was relieved that I was not going to get the razor strap.
On the walk home, she looked at me and said, “Boy, trouble is easy to get into but it’s hard to get out of. Never forget that.”
To this day I haven’t forgotten her saying that.
Today, more than ever, our children are being tricked into doing things and manipulated into doing things even though they are not right. All we can do is pray for our young people that God will keep them safe and out of trouble. As my grandmother said, “Trouble sure is hard to get out of,” and the consequences can be great.
Let’s continue to pray for our young people and also that God will continue to look over them, keep them safe and help us remember that it takes all of us to raise a child.