Here we are again, another day and another night in a hotel room and another night away. I am at my office again, and staying in my usual hotel!!
I drove up the M6 today and listened to the radio, catching up on the news and events. Well here is the rant, actually today it is more of a question and I am confussed to say the least. Either way I heard two pieces of news today that have left me "cold" and for the first time actually questioning what have our children got to face??
I listened in awe today at (amongst other things) the pieces of news stating that a 17th young person has commited suicide in Bridgend for no apparent reason and at the same time another young person has been knifed to death in London.
So we have two apparently unrelated deaths 200 miles apart. Two tragic ends to short lives, without either party having had chance to achieve anything except for the "15 minutes of fame" (thank you Andy Warhole) that these deaths have achieved.
My confussion I need to explain in a twofold manner, so here we go -
The Stabbing -
As I grew up I knew lots of people, I had friends throughout the country through a youth movement I belonged to, and I had lots of friends in London. As I reached my formative late teens my social circle was based around London and the Chilterns. I still see some friends now, I was best-man to one of them. I started school with a certain special, (then) little girl, who I still look upon as one of my greatest friends and without a doubt my soulmate and "ear" to rely upon, you know who you are!! I met my now wife when we were 18 and we have never really been apart since.
Amongst all of these friends and associates I do not know of 1 incidence of knife crime amongst us or of any of us carrying a knife. My wife also had a varied and wide social circle based around the Reading area. She also cannot relate to knife crime.
So I thought I needed to ask around, ask amongst people who had teenagers, like us, as they grew up. Not one of these throughout the whole UK can relate to knife carrying.
Now what this actually does is highlight the issue. Although I would dispute it, as would all of the people I know, my upbringing and friends have been held within a very "closed" environment. We all say we are blue collar, we all say we mix with all classes and colours. I now say NO we don't. If we did we would have seen knives and the results of these in practice.
This situation shows that the knife crime we seem to hear about weekly is actually very localised within a small element of society. The question therefore is what can be done to slow down this spread. Sociology has already shown that "trends" will filter across to all areas of society. What is localised today will potentially become a nationwide epedemic as natural osmosis leads to a spread of the problem.
The Suicides -
And this naturally brings the thought round to Bridgend. Originally 1 poor soul used suicide as a way out. His friends are shocked. I looked at BEBO earlier, this is a scary site as you can post whatever you like. And thus through natural word of mouth and BEBO reading and sociological filtering throughout the social circle the current suicide rate is 17.
Again, the circle I move within has not experienced this. We all lost friends to accidents, but these could not easily be copied. Suicides can.
This is the real issue with both knife crime and suicides.
And here is my confussion and worry - Why would you choose to copy knife crime or suicide? Does this "crime" guarantee the fame that is craved but not achievable? Does the current craving for fame at any cost mean that the cost can be the ultimate sacrifice in the quest?
What can a Father do to stop children reaching their late teens and viewing suicide or murder as a "cool" way of ensuring their fame? By the time the parents of current infants have children of this age osmosis will mean the epedemic may well of spread dramatically.
I ask as a worried parent, who hopes my childrens current sense remains, what can we do? How do we protect our children? and how do we act to try and stop the spread of this culture of craving fame at any cost?
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As the mother of 2 teenage boys I truely share those thoughts. But there was another story that was just as heartbreaking but gives us hope for our children where a young lad lost his life trying to save his friend. He had no care but the thought of his friend in danger which overtook his own fears. There are so many different aspects of growing up now that we didn't have and all we can do is advise as best we can and encourage them to talk to u and b honest but most important of all listen to wot they have to say .
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