My teen sons tried to get shock value with a totally evil song. I blew a cork, stopped the “music” and repeated the vile lyrics back to them, word for word, as they watched in horror at how violent it sounded coming from their mom’s face. They snuck to buy it and they were not of age. They apologized and wanted to return it to the mall, so we did.

A lot of years have passed. My sons refuse to say cuss words to this day and they both became teachers, music teachers. My grandchildren are being taught about love and God and respect. Both sons married their high school sweethearts. Their families are a living testament to a curse that was broken. My childhood was so ugly, but theirs did not have to be. There is a lot more to this story.

Sometimes facing evil and calling it out for “exactly what it is” does not feel very nice. The reward that follows is well beyond words.

Hang in there and hold the line with me? We can face off with evil and just see where all this goes…

I have done this with my son and the songs that have lyrics about degrading women. Sadly, there are many. The best I have achieved is that he now has a different playlist when driving with me.