We recently had 2 incidences with "rioting" teens in my quiet little corner of the world. I have a LOT of friends who are police officers, and there is NO way in hell I would even consider doing what they do...There simply isn't enough money in the world.
The first incident involved 17 teenagers who thought it would be fun to go to a local annual church bazaar and desecrate church grounds and then start a riot with the police when they came to break it up. Teens were trying to grab cops' guns and whip sticks, swinging at them with anything available. All underage (16 and 17 years old, and all drunk), and the big kicker???? They all think it's funny
The second incident was on school grounds during school hours. The seniors had their last fling and had gone home for the day when some underclassmen thought it would be cool to stage a food fight in the cafeteria. When the 2 assistant principles came in to break it up, students started hitting the administrators in the faces with their cell phones. All area police (3 towns, state police and county sheriffs) were called to the scene. The angry mob was moved out of the school by the police when the mob turned on the police. We are talking about 15, 16 and 17 year old boys and girls. Personally, I hope they make examples of these kids, in each case. Somewhere down the line, even teenagers, who are DEFINITELY capable of making these stupid decisions, need to take responsibility for their actions and live with the consequences.
Where have we lost track of right and wrong? Current society is teaching our children they can do anything they want and can get away with it because some idiot will tell them it isn't their fault. Bullshit, personally, I think that is one of the biggest cop outs we can give our children. It doesn't teach them responsibility, it doesn't teach them to think out situations beforehand. I am not saying all children, because to stereotype them is like saying all Africans are gang members, all Irish are drunks, and Germans are nazis (I think you get the drift, sorry if I have pissed anyone off...very unintentional!). But it seems to me, as a society we have let our children down in so many ways, in fact we have actually crippled them. They no longer have to think to do math due to advanced calculators (how many young people do you know who can count change, correctly, back to you without looking at the screen), they can blame their violent/angry temperaments on the music, tv/movies, and video games they are confronted with every day, and they can blame their blaise attitudes on everything else. I'm not quite sure what the solution to all of this is, BUT I personally feel it starts at home. Let the parents have THEIR parental rights back. Perhaps a swift kick in the hinney would get more kids' attention than sitting in time out, after all....I think I turned out somewhat normal (whatever that is)....
