Posted on 11/22/2005 7:20:33 AM PST by ncountylee
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old single father whose struggle raising his toddler daughter was featured in People magazine has been killed in Philadelphia.
Terrell Pough was shot in the head on his way home from work Thursday night and later died at Temple University Hospital, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Police said they have no suspects but do have a possible lead. No further details of the slaying were released.
The August issue of People profiled Pough, who worked as the night manger at a local restaurant while attending school full-time and raising his daughter, Diamond, who will be 2 on Nov. 27.
"She's what I work for, what I live for, why I wake up," he told People. "She's everything."
Diamond, who had full-custody of his daughter, had planned to work in construction after graduating next June.
"If something ever happens to me, no one can ever tell her that her dad didn't take care of her," he told People.
It's not glorifying the mistake, it's showing how a young black man was working his A** off to make sure he wasn't one of the many statistics out there who are "mistakes" by abandoning his child.
Instead of always looking at the negative, acknowledge that he made a mistake, but was taking actions to turn his and his daughter's life into a positive.
Agree with Ninian all you want, kids make mistakes, at least this young "MAN" was trying to right the ship.
SZ
Oh, give me a break with that first stone crap...I am so sick of hearing that. Are we not supposed to call anything wrong? Is nothing evil? Is there not a difference between right and wrong?
I know in the liberal world there is not but where most conservatives live, there is a difference!
This is a sad story but he should have NEVER be lauded in People Magazine for making mistakes that will effect this child and society for a long time to come.
I pray this child finds a loving, two-parent, home to be raised in...
Just think if more people had spoken out in the past about this sort of thing being wrong....maybe it never would have happened...but then again someone, heaven forbid, might have had to call something wrong!!!!!!
There's just no pleasing the morally righteous and indignant, "holier than thou" types. This young man had the guts to do what too many people in poor areas won't do and that's be responsible for his actions. He didn't ask for your praise or approval, he did the right thing.
When you are in church this week feeling superior about yourself and your life be sure to ask the man upstairs what he thinks of your attitude.
It is great that he was trying to turn his life around but did he need to be lauded in People Magazine as someone to look up to? Can we not do better than that?
The old-fashioned way of doing things would be for the mother to abort the baby and disallowing the father to have any say-so.
Jerk.
My answer is in post 41
SZ
Everything is good and nothing should be called wrong? Is that what you are saying? Be honest now...you believe we should never judge and all is good.
Who needs enemies, when they have friends like you! You're all a real uplifting group! Perfect in every way!
I understand your point, but I prefer to be thankful that the little girl isn't another abortion statistic.
Yes, there are better ways of doing things but her parents chose life for her, and she was apparently much loved and cared for by her father.
At least she has a chance.
Because he saw the place to step up to the plate and did. I hear so many self righteous people on these boards complaining about urban people who populate the world with no responsibility for the kids they bring into the world. This kid did the right thing and lo and behold people want to criticize him.
Unfu&*en believable....
Just think, if he had made his girlfriend have an abortion he wouldn't have had to shoulder the responsibility. >S<
Where is that condemned? Is it okay to say that is wrong or would that be casting the first stone????
We have allowed for the above to be the norm because anyone back then saying ANYTHING OTHERWISE would be shouted down and called "a holier than thou", etc.....just like you are doing now.
Do you see where that leads us when no one is willing to distinguish between right and wrong?
Dont get me wrong, I consider People magazine beneath the level of lining a bird cage.
And of course, there is the "right " way to do things.
But also we have a society that men sire children and do not take any interest in marriage or taking care of the child.
It maybe a small first step, but it is a step in the right direction to note a man who after making a mistake is willing to take care of his child and do better.
Some people here at FR ONLY see thorns and do not see the Rose that might grow from between the thorns.
And if you would have condemned her for having an abortion, those on the left would have called you a "holier than thou type," etc.... just like what is being done now.
Wow, you're taking a beating over this one. I happen to agree with you. I believe the message you are sending is not for this young father, but for all those potential young fathers out there. Just because someone makes a mistake doesn't mean we can't call it for what it is. This young man got it WRONG the first time, but to his credit, was trying to make things right. That DOES NOT cancel out the original mistake.
Not a traditional family, but at least this young man was trying to do the right thing.
I feel so sorry for his baby.
I didn't read the article in People and I really have no dog in this fight. However, the subject of both this article and the People article appears to be that this kid, after having made a really stupid decision to get a girl pregnant while still in high school, took responsibility for his actions and was trying to do everything to make a better life for his daughter. Is it a sad story? Yes, for many reasons. This is not glorifying the mistakes, but rather pointing out someone who at least tried to do the right thing after making mistakes.
There are countless studies that show it is much better for the children when parents graduate from school before having children and when parents get married after graduating and before getting pregnant rather than making the mistakes this kid made. These studies, and comments about them, raise very valid points in a discussion on issues of poverty and teen pregancy. But in a thread about the very sad loss of a kid who was trying to get it right, such comments -- no matter how VALID they may be -- are insensitive and inappropriate, and come across as self-righteous and judgmental.
"We" can do better than that if "we" were publishing magazines. I didn't make the decision to have his story published in People, they did.
Moral self-righteousness only goes so far in a world like the one this young man lived in. Glad to see your world is different than this young man's.
That being said, here is a young kid who makes a mistake, has a beautiful daughter as a result of that "mistake" and you know what?
He takes responsibility for his "mistake". He keeps going to school so he can finish his education. He gets a job so he can support his daughter instead of welfare. To me those are the basic tenets that the People article were/are trying to get across.
SZ
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