So much has been written about the upsurge of knife crime in London. The stabbings seem like they will never end. The youngest victim was David Idowu, he was 14-years-old.
I am not a mother and have no idea what it feels like to lose a child. But I can imagine it must be a gut wrenching pain to know you will never see the baby you nutured into a boy and just when he was on his way to becoming a man, he was snatched by a cruel act from you.
I don't want to go into what it feels like to know a knife has just been jabbed into you by another human being. We all know the end result of such an action. Lately, it is the grave for the lives of young men and women, who have fallen victim to these cruel actions.
Our sons and daugthers have forgoten what respect for another human life is all about. They have taken the law into their hands, settling scores with each other by way of the knife.
Some parents have no idea what their children have been up to.
The government is laying down the law to get the perpetrators behind bars. Great that we are getting tough but has anyone taken the time to ask themselves; when was the last time you took interest in a young man you knew was at risk of joining a gang because that's what he thinks will give him protection?
When was the last time any one of us took interest in a young man, being raised ny a single mother? Forgetting she can't be everywhere to keep an eye on him?
When was the last time we got off our backsides and took an action that would in turn empower a young man, a young black man at that? So we can show him that a knife in your bag or pocket is not what empowers you in life?
When was the last time you bothered to ask about their education or mental state of mind?
But we are all quick to judge and write about their past.
Don't get me wrong, everthing has got to be balanced and I refuse to make excuses for the action of one human being which leads to the death of another. In my oipnion, it is despicable, vile, cruel and plain outright wickedness.
It should never be the case where parents have to bury their children but that is what we have been living with for the past year and more.
I am yet to figure out why a young mand feels joining a gang and carrying a weapon is what will empower him. On the other hand, if you look at it with a mindset of, I know who I am, it goes to show the poor state of mind our sons and daugthers are in.
Their self-worth has been eroded by lies. Their values twisted and their ability to care has been frozen, and when they act out or do the things they do, they make themselves a target of getting demonised by all.
I have no expertise in criminology or psychology but some things do not take rocket science to figure out, face the facts and be practical about it.
We need to go back to the drawing board, the home. That's where it all begins. I have no parenting skills and I cannot be judge and jury over other people's ability to raise their children the way they need to be raised but we must start at home.
We need to take our homes back from our children. They are not meant to be running the house but their parents. We need to instill the core values that we hold on to in society which helps to keep life going in them.
I do not want to know about what you believe in or don't as far as religion is concerned. But whatever it is, you need to teach your children what is good and what is evil and the reason they must uphold the good.
Please, believe me, I am not preaching at you. I am being practical. What we have today is the fact that the kids are no longer afraid of anyone. There are different reasons why they are not but I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that.
Discipline needs to come back into the home. The government cannot do it alone, neither can the parents. This is a joint effort which requires our attention and efforts as members of society.
It is time we work together and not aganist each other. Reading the Statesman a few weeks back, there was a great report about Childhood in Britain. Guess what, our children are the most unhappy set of young people in Europe, we have the highest number of disenchanted youn people. We lock them up faster than they can say 'A.'
And we over medicate them and we talk down at them.
Now, there is more to that but I think that pretty much paints the picture for you. We all need to change our attitude to this problem and change is hard but possible.
We need to take decisions concerning the lives of our children, knowing their future is at the heart of what and all that we do.
I personally don't have any answers to a whole lot of questions people have but if we start looking within and stop pointing fingers, we will find the courage to take that first step to make things right.
The lives of our children matters. The lives of our sons, daugthers, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters matter. They are not for sacrifice. They are not lambs for slaughter and its about time the killing spree stops.
Wake up London and agree with me that our sons and daughters are not for sacrifice.
Image from Google
For further reading - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/05/knifecrime.ukcrime2
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/07/crime_is_down_but_what_about_k.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/21/youngpeople.knifecrime
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/18/knifecrime1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/18/knifecrime.ukcrime2
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2262680/David-Idowu,-14,-becomes-19th-victim-of-London-knife-crime.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4301774.ece
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7518751.stm
3 comments:
Nice blog..
Fanatstic blog, I commend you for speaking the truth and laying it down.
As a mother I am appalled at the way our youth have turned out. I quite agree that as you say and I quote "Discipline needs to come back into the home. The government cannot do it alone, neither can the parents. This is a joint effort which requires our attention and efforts as members of society".
But this same government that can't do it alone are the ones who took all the power away from the parents in the first place. If you try and discipline your child, because the child didn't like the way it was done reports you to the authorities and sometime without proper investigation you can be marked as a bad parent. That is the fear that has been instilled into parents by this same government and is the power that has been given to the youths who tell the parents straigth out if you do or say what I don't like I will report you and so the parent backs off.
This same government that put the law out there that our daughters can get their own accomodation and play grown ups if they get pregnant, hence causing the UK to be the country with the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in europe. This same government that gives most parents no choice but to be out there working so many jobs and so many hours (again UK has the highest working hours average of 46hrs a day) to meet the demands of all their taxes that parents can't afford to spend time with their kids to find out what is going through their heads as half the time they are either tired or working. And we all know that teenage years are the most demanding difficult and honestly scary periods in ageing, this is the time where there needs to be a lot of communicating, understanding as they are being faced with a lot of challenges, this is the time they need to choose between good and evil and if this is a difficult task sometimes for we adults then how much more for these teenagers, surely we haven't all forgotten what it was like for us when we were teenagers. But who do they have to turn to or talk to in this difficult times, parents are busy, teachers can't do everything as they don't have the adequate tools to advise because they know nothing about these kids they are not in their homes or in their lives to fully comprehand what they are going through, the government the same ones who would rather agree to new age apartment blocks, Tescos, and other such pointless and added monstrousities being built in under priviledged areas instead of worthwhile activity centres or added value educational facilities to give these teenagers something to do. The government don't care about the youths if they did the solution would be quite simple really,.... eradicate the fear instilled into parents by giving them back some sense or power of authority over their kids... go back to the drawing board and check out the past and access it with the present see what changed for the better and what for the worse and then put the better back in place.... make it difficult for those underage pregnancies no one will be quick to get pregnant.... that is the other problem we have the teenagers today are being raised by kids themselves, parents who had kids as early as 14 and had no chance to grow up themselves and are now the ones raising kids, how are they going to be able to teach a child right from wrong when they are still trying to decipher the notion themselves. These young parents need parenting skills and understanding of how to communicate with their kids not going boozing and clubbing with their kids and thinking that is the way to bring up a child.
This is how I view it and is my opinion on the matter any questions you can contact me natalieoparah@aol.com
I agree with you. We lost it when we took power from parents to discipline their children and gave it to the authorities. Now the same people in authority want to blame the parents. But the blame game won't help. Its time to go back to the drawing board and get things right. So glad I was raised by a mum who would have said to me, if I had been raised in England, call the police and be ready to follow them.
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