Whenever I am stuck in traffic, I always assume a wreck is the cause. As I pass by any pile-up, I empathize with the potential victims and try to keep a calm head out of respect. But recently, I realized the nearly stand still traffic was being caused by a bicycle and my blood boiled.

I will honestly say that I do not believe in sharing the road. The weight of a car can be 4,000 pounds and a car can reach speeds well over 100 mph. In contrast, the average bicycle weighs about 30 pounds and an average rider can only go about 20 mph.

But somehow we have decided that the way to coexist is to travel the same roads together in harmony. However, the burden of traveling safely together ultimately depends on the driver slowing down, swerving over, etc., in an effort not to mortally wound this soul who is inching up a hill on Roswell Road during rush hour.

“Melissa, you are not a parent, so you wouldn’t understand.”

That is usually the reaction I get when I speak on any issue regarding children. But I am going to talk about it anyway. The level of weakness in some parents has become so blatant that it can’t be ignored. They are raising kids who will turn into the ills of society.

Let’s start with grades. School is a place to learn, and no one can learn without making mistakes. Like most students, I saw red corrective marks on papers throughout my years in the Maury County, Tenn., School System. It didn’t really matter what color that ink was. What was important was that I was being taught what I had done wrong so that I wouldn’t do it again.