"Oil Wells, Fried Quail and Silver Dollars" Bonus Content

Children. Bullies. Protectors. Survivors. Saviors.

I don’t have children. Maybe my parents set the bar so high…?

My criteria were:

• Having a child must be the single most important thing I ever wanted to do

• I couldn’t imagine a life without a child

• Nothing would ever take priority over the child

Those were my requirements. I made my decision and had the right to do so.

My story, Oil Wells, Fried Quail and Silver Dollars, is all about the importance of children. Protecting them, nurturing them, valuing them, making sure they aren’t preyed upon or injured—emotionally or physically—by anyone.

Priscilla Gibson is a fortunate little girl to have been born to parents who not only protect her but give her autonomy and respect. Every child deserves that.

A subject close to me is only children. We’re criticized, and I don’t understand why. Isn’t that an individual choice? One child, no children, half a dozen children? The important thing is caring for and protecting the ones you have. And once you’ve sent them into the world—school for example—it takes a village.

Priscilla—the only child of Ike and Jerry Dale Gibson—and Carlene Suzanne—one of half a dozen children of single mother Lydia Conroy—are watched over and protected by a community of caring people. Sam Trout, the orphaned eight-year-old, was watched over by the Atkins. Then Sam cared about and watched over Dixon kids his whole life. He made a difference and an impact on children’s lives.

Did his impact and the good parentage of Lydia and Ike and Jerry Dale and the other parents of their classmates completely protect their children from a sadistic teacher? Not completely—but together they put an end to it, and “The Kids Are Alright.”

This brings me to the issue of Indian Boarding Schools and the U. S. policy that destroyed the lives of so many children. Everything brings me to that subject because my father was a survivor. There weren’t enough well-meaning people in the whole country to protect those children from harm, and thousands upon thousands of them Were Not Alright. Racism drove people to create Sundown Towns where minorities—African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans—had to be out of the city limits by sundown. Thousands of those children Were Not Alright. Churches have paid millions of dollars to victims—children who were abused by clergy. Thousands of those children Are Not Alright. The examples of circumstances where children Are Not Alright are heartbreaking.

I don’t have children, except for the ones I care about in my heart. All over the world, helpless, vulnerable children are preyed upon, abused, mistreated or undervalued. It’s wrong. It’s unforgivable. Children didn’t ask to be born, and bringing them into the world should be accompanied by a willingness and commitment to protect them from anyone who threatens them harm.