I was fired from the Salvation Army in Feb. 2013 because some of the Christian parents were worried about me abusing their children sexually or perhaps other wise. In Nov. 2012 I was hired as a part time child watch worker while the children's parents rehearsed their music on Thursday nights and performed on Sunday mornings.
The pastor who called me in his office, a real down to Earth and extremely easy get along with fellow, Major Joseph Murray said he had no problem with me, but some of the parents were worried about me being alone with their children, thus I was fired on the spot.
Actually I understood the parents concerns, I'm a middle age freak, innocuous yes, but the parents have no documentation of my harmlessness toward their children, yet thanks to certain Catholic priests, maybe Michael Jackson and Jerry Sandusky, the freaks like me get the worst labels.
When I lived with a woman and her three children in the early 2000s and was working at the YWCA, A Special Place as a certified teacher from the state of California, about 95 percent of the parents and the children were extremely receptive to me. As a single never married man having no children, I got labeled a true freak of nature, which incidentally I can't argue, because I am an abnormally developed individual, yet innocuous.
I do understand the paranoia parents with young children face, but today its gone too far. When I was a boy about 9 or 10-years-old, I rode my bicycle with various peers all over, and was often gone from sun up to sun down along with my friends. Kids are missing out on so much of their childhood these days, but I regress.
All the parents I worked with at the Salvation Army were devout Christians, church every Sunday, daily reading of the Bible, attending Bible studies and reading it to their children on a regular basis. What intrigues me, is that some of them honestly thought I might be a child molester and had me fired. Major Joe said to me, I'm going to document that you were not a good fit for the company. Obviously her couldn't document I might be a pedophile with zero percent evidence, so hence; not a good fit for the company. As I stated earlier, Major Joe said he had no problem with me and that he was going to miss me, but the parents have spoken.
What excites my imagination is that these devout Christian folk who honestly believed I might have sadistic intentions toward their children didn't try and find evidence of this, or press charges, but had me fired. What this says to me, is it's OK to molest children, but not mine. If I had a child and simply suspected that one of my children's teachers or care givers might be a pedophile, I'd mention it to all staff and the other parents, maybe find something to use as court evidence and have the person sent to prison. Ask your child if a teacher or any adult for that matter wants to connect with him or her on Facebook, email or one of the many other ways these days, if so, that's a red flag unless your already close with the parents.
It's been almost a year since I've been volunteering at the YMCA with children from infancy to adolescence, and this harmless freak is well accepted and enjoys reading to the children every Tuesday morning.
