Red Lake and Columbine...
How horrible. As a parent, it makes me worry about the saftey of my son in school. And my mother, who also works in the field of education.
What's the matter with the world today? How can we "miss" kids that are so fucked up in the head? Where are their parents? What are they doing? When their son/grandson/cousin/nephew started getting interested in Hitler, did anyone bother to sit him down and explain to him what the man really was? Did anyone tell him what Nazi's stood for? Did anyone explain to him how precious life is? Did anyone talk to him about reality vs fiction?
Did anyone pay any attention to his silent cry for help?
Did anyone try to help him?
What the hell went wrong?
I'm still waiting for the usual "The music, video games, comic books, movie made him do it," crap to show up. That's utter bullshit. Yes, kids are easily influenced by the stuff they watch and hear, but you know what, if they do shit like this, something else went WAY wrong early in their life...and its the parents fault for not fixing it, not noticing it, not paying attention to their children. No, something far deeper than any music, movie, or videogame drove this kid to kill his peers, family, teachers and then himself.
What's sick is Americans won't see it that way. It'll be everyone elses fault...television, music, games, books, etc. Its never the "poor" parents fault.
Oh, yes...parents can't watch their kids all the time. You don't have to tell me that. My son is 10. I can't be with him and hold his hand everywhere he goes. School, tennis, to the library, to his friends. But you know what? I can spend time talking to my son, listening to his problems, giving him advice, hearing him out, instilling in him confidence and morals that he will carry throughout life. I'm never too busy to do that. I'm never too ashamed or tied up to answer his questions, no matter how "embarrassing" or "bothersome" they are.
I worry for my son's future...I worry about the other kids being raised in this world of irresponsible parents that refused to raise their children themselves. I loath the parents who deny accountablitity and cry out for myself and other citizens to pay for their laziness. You work long hours and don't have the "time" to peer over your children's shoulder? Don't have kids then. Any idiot knows they take lots of time. Growing them up is exhausting work. If you can't dedicate your life to them, then DON'T HAVE THEM!
America is a place of violence, yet we are the most censured in the free world when it comes to media. Nudity, violence, speech on television, movies, games, music are all guarded more so than in other countries. Tell me then, why is it that our youth crime is so much more outrageous than anywhere else in the world? Why our crime period? The FCC and government goes through great lengths to censor what we see, watch, and hear. Why is this country such a scary place?
What are we doing wrong?
Posted by Zoso at March 23, 2005 05:57 AM