April 16, 2025 - PLEASE Be VERY Careful

I've been talking about taking time to enjoy things and to be happy - and I want to say again today, you absolutely deserve to do this. Please, make time for yourself to do this. But, I also want to talk about something very serious and ask you to be careful. The news where I live the past couple days has been about a young 14 year old who attended the school my grands attend. This young man thought a girl was emailing him because she liked him and wanted to know him better. "She" got him to send compromising photos of him to her and then, started blackmailing him. He ended up killing himself because he was afraid he would be in trouble and didn't know what to do. He was only fourteen.

First of all, please NEVER send compromising photos of yourself to anyone - especially if you do not really know and trust them IN PERSON. A person who contacts you online may not be who they say they are. In this case, the "girl" was really another teen boy from the same area. This young man sextorted seventeen other young people from around the country. Please know, just because you see someone online, it does not mean they are who they say they are. PLEASE be VERY careful.

Secondly, please know it is illegal for someone to blackmail you. If anyone ever tries to do this, please let your parents, grandparents, extended family, a teacher you trust, or an adult who you know is truly safe know what is going on. Ask them for help. Let them help you.

Finally, most important, PLEASE do not harm yourself. As I always say, you matter. Our world needs you in it. 

I often say to hold tightly to your parents, grandparents, extended family, and friends who love you and I want to say this again. Please hold tightly to them. These people who love you will never stop loving you because of something you say or do. I tell my grands I love them forever and for always and nothing will ever change how much I love them - except every day I love them more than I did the day before. I dearly love them and ALWAYS will. I hope you have people in your life who feel the same way about you - you deserve to have these kind of people in your life.

So, PLEASE be very careful about people you meet online and don't know in "real life". PLEASE let the people who love you help you if you need their help. And PLEASE do not ever harm yourself.

So, especially today, I want to send you another virtual "hug" - You matter. You deserve to be loved and are loved - I love you! You make our world a better place - we need you in this world. I hope you have people around you who tell you these things, but if not, please let me be someone who does. Yes, I say this every day, but these words are true and will always be so. You will find the video at this link.