Rodney Dangerfield was right
NS October 29th, 2007
Ugh. I walked by our local library today and noticed that over the weekend some person (or, undoubtedly, persons) had set fire to a nearby recycling bin and pushed it up against the library parking lot’s ticket machine, melting it down to almost nothing. Two weeks ago they had to get a new sign because some vandals spray painted obscene words in large green letters on the original one. Last week, as I was cutting through the parking lot on my way back from the shops, I saw a group of 8-10 year-old kids standing outside smoking cigarettes, kicking the door and throwing litter around. Thankfully, just as I was walking by, two cops showed up and started making their way towards them so I can only hope that they were run out of there quickly.
It’s just so sad though, that kids as young as that think they are being ‘cool’ by ruining public property and scaring people off by being offensive and intimidating. I know that a certain amount of bad behaviour is to be expected but not at this level, this magnitude and at such a young age. Where’s the respect? It really fires me up, not only to see these kids being so horrible but to know that they are doing it for attention they obviously never get at home. It’s such an odd combination of anger, disgust, pity, sadness and hopelessness and I don’t know what I can do to help them or help the problem. I suppose all I can do is raise my daughter to treat people and things with the respect they deserve and hope that she goes out into the world with a strong sense of right and wrong that will guide her in her actions and how she influences the world around her.
I wonder what the parents of these kids wish for at night.
