Who is Qualified?

One of my friends on Facebook made a comment on his status about a Bristol Palin appearance on one of the morning talk shows where she was promoting abstinence. He commented along the lines of her being the pot calling the kettle black. Point being she shouldn’t be telling other teens that abstinence is best because she obviously didn’t practice what she preaches.

This brings up a good question. When can someone offer advice to others and when can’t they? I believe she offers a unique perspective on the issues of teen sex, just as a smoker would have on smoking or an alcoholic would have on drinking. To dismiss her is to dismiss the lesson that can be learned.

Who do you think would be more effective at getting through to teenagers about underage drinking? Someone who’s never had a drink? Or another teenager that not only drank but as a result of their drinking got into an accident? My money is on the fellow teen who drank. We must learn from not only our mistakes but the mistakes of others – we shouldn’t disregard them.

If it were only parents who had never done anything wrong that were “qualified” to give advice and guidance to their children then my guess is most children wouldn’t be getting any advice at all.

Bristol Palin, in my opinion, is uniquely qualified to speak about teen sex. She chose to participate and got pregnant. To discount her opinion and advice on the subject would be unfortunate, and many teens might miss out on the lesson.