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April 27, 2004
A failure of society?
Yesterday I had news that a friend of mine who had planned to help me move will now not be able to get time off from his job as Assistant Verger in one of our great Cathedrals as the Head Verger is in hospital. You may well ask what this has to do with our society at large. Simply this, the reason the Head Verger is in hospital is because he asked some of the local “youff” to stop their foul mouthed and distasteful behaviour inside the ancient cloisters of the cathedral.
They attacked him, stole his portable radio, and - having knocked him to the ground and applied their feet – ran away as the other vergers ran to help him.
Sadly, this is not unusual behaviour; we frequently see families enter the Abbey, several ill behaved children in tow, the father usually wearing a baseball cap and not removing it. Ask him to do so and, like as not, you’ll get a few choice words on the subject of his right to do as he damned well pleases. Meanwhile, his unruly brats are climbing on things, pulling at gates, and screaming at the tops of their voices. Last night a boy climbed the scaffolding shrouding our West window, no mean feat, as to do this he had to scale a secure fence, then some sheer poles in order to reach the first platform, and then spent some time undoing parts of the scaffolding and hurling these at the tombs below. The Police were called, but failed to arrive, and the miscreant, having told the Vicar to perform an impossible sexual act on himself, slouched off to go and find something else to amuse himself with, presumably because he had discovered that he could not loosen anything else.
At Gloucester Cathedral, recently, a whole series of 12th Century stained glass windows in the cloisters (Harry Potter fans will have seen them) were smashed by a teenage yob who “just felt like it”. He was never even required by the Prosecution Service to appear in court, the matter was dealt with by a Police man who “talked to him.” His Social Worker and the usual bleeding heart brigade all protesting mightily that he was a deprived youth, from a broken home, and that he was only giving vent to his pent up frustrations. Well, in my youth, which is actually not that long ago – I’d have got a damned good clip around the ear, been hauled before the magistrates, and would have been very lucky to have received six strokes with a light cane – a period in an Approved School would have been worse!
The young have been taught that they have “rights” to everything, respect, safety, health, wealth, and anything else they fancy. They believe that they are entitled to do as they please, how they please, and when they please – and damn anybody who objects. They have all the “rights” and know how to exercise them, but have no responsibilities. Perhaps it is time to change the law.
You may have the rights – but you will also accept full responsibility for your actions. No more hiding behind the ludicrously advanced “age of criminal responsibility.” A child of 4 knows right from wrong. It is therefore capable of being held responsible for its wrongdoing. It is time to stop excusing the inexcusable and to demand that these misguided attempts to explain away criminal behaviour and to excuse it .
How many more Jamie Bulgers must there be before we wake up? Society is failing these kids, it is failing to teach them that respect comes from showing respect to and for others, it is not a “right”. If you behave responsibly there is benefit for all and it need not be “boring”. We have created a society wherein the young are protected from their actions, bad behaviour and criminal damage is excused, and then we expect them to grow up to be model citizens.
It may be time to find somewhere else to live.
Posted by The Gray Monk at April 27, 2004 01:13 AM
Comments
When the police don't show up, you call them back and let them know that you have seen a regular worshipper walking outside with what looks like a rifle to get the bugger down off the scaffolding. Armed response unit in no time and with any the little bugger will have been scared half to death.
Posted by: Ozguru at April 27, 2004 02:35 AM
If the little blighter returns - this is definitely on the Vergers emergency plan!
Posted by: The Gray Monk at April 27, 2004 08:46 AM
I can't agree with you more sir. I am only 25 years old and even when I was 18 I felt as you do. When I see little kids chasing each other around with sticks and one screaming "I'll kill you!" While the other little boys (and girls) run away in terror... were they really playing?) It really makes me sad. This kind of behavior to me is an excellent indicator in where my country (America) and the world in general in many cases is heading.
Some try to answer the problem with religion, stating that a lack of it is responsible, but as you noted, that doesnt really seem to be the case. With the relatively newfound absence of the "fear of god", which I don't feel to be proper at all anyway (but how else can you scare an apathetic generation?) and lack of punishment for misdeed, we have truly made a mistake.
In America, if your child goes to school with any visible marks on him, the teachers will call the child protective services. I'm not arguing that we should beat our children EXCESSIVELY, but I was disciplined when appropriate when I was young and I feel that I turned out fairly well. (maybe I could have used a little more but...)
Thanks for writing about this, maybe you have inspired some people top think twice about things, I know you have done so for me.
Sincerely,
Robert V.
Posted by: Robert V at April 27, 2004 01:53 PM
I think that people forget that part of growing up is learning about accepting responsiblity for your actions. So parents forget to teach it to thier childern, or maybe they think at the age of 18 thier kids will be blessed with it. Kids need discipline and for some reason that has become a bad word in most western societies, mainly because it's is assocaited with beating a kid to death. So once again the failure of 1% of the poplutation makes rules that the other 99% have to follow. Anyway because of the parents failure to discipline childern, they fail to learn that actions can have ill consciences.
Hate to say it but Britain is just beganing it decent into youth violence, America has been there for awhile. Luckly you have more strict gun laws so I hope it won't be as bloody as ours has been. As for the kid on the scaffolding you should have helped him undo it, but you should have started from the bottom. I have learned some of my most valuable lessons from painful experances.
Posted by: Matthew at April 29, 2004 07:19 AM