In reading about the story, I have to keep reminding myself that it is a high school situation. That is truly the real tragedy. For anyone to behave in the manner in which these kids did is appalling. That they are so young is what is shocking.
A group of kids gather to celebrate a victory. Alcohol is available. Kids, well under age, are getting intoxicated. Severely intoxicated, to the point of blacking out. Liberties are taken, and lives are changed forever.
The first question I have is where we're the parents of these kids. Why were they allowed to congregate in a home with alcohol available. I'm not so stupid to believe that these things don't happen in my own back yard. But I am smart enough to know how to use the Internet and see what is transpiring. Some parent somewhere had to know what was going on. Intervention number one failed.
Next, I want to know where this girl's friends were. They had to see she was drinking too much. It's a shame she couldn't be accountable for herself at 16, but why didn't they help her. Why didn't they stop what was going on. Intervention number two failed.
Lastly, I want to know why kids that are in high school get together and do this kind of stuff. I don't pretend to be an angel. I definitely did my fair share of wrong as a teenager. But we weren't destructive. We didn't stand by while someone was being taken advantage of. We didn't think we were above the law because we were good athletes or made good grades.
I hold the media and our love affair with professional sports accountable for all of that. We have let rapists, murderers, and thieves get by with far worse than what these kids did in our sports world. Then our media goes and trivializes it through shows like CSI and Criminal Minds. We have become so accustomed to seeing this kind of thing happening on TV and in movies, we think it's acceptable.
But the whys of how this happened are unimportant in this particular situation. What's done is done. We can't change that. The judge has now ruled against the boys involved. Their freedom is gone, along with the girl's dignity. The town is in an uproar that their heroes will now be locked up vs scoring touchdowns this fall. It seems they have lost sight of the real tragedy this situation represents.
The boys parents want others held accountable, because surely their sons didn't operate in a vacuum. They console their sons as they realize their bright futures are now bleak. They cry and lament and contemplate "what if".
But what lessons have been learned. Will students in Steubenville still celebrate wins at drunken parties this fall? Will they still drink themselves into a stupor? Will those around them still take advantage of the situation or stand by letting it happen?
Maybe not in Steubenville. But what about your hometown? What about your child? Will you as a parent reading this do what is necessary to intervene to prevent this from ever happening to your child or to someone else's?
Our country faces these sorts of moral dilemmas every day. It's time we stop standing by and letting abuse happen, of any sort! We need to start behaving morally and ethically again and stop asking what's in it for me.
I'm taking the pledge to stop standing by and watching. Will you?
A BIG THUMBS UP MACHELLE FOR TAKING A STAND! Millie Grindstaff
ReplyDeleteThe callousness of today's youth is stupefying !
ReplyDeleteBut they weren't "born that way"; they inherited it from their parents. It amazes me when I hear a parent comment (after their child has done something wrong) "he/she wasn't raised that way".
I want to say "Really ?!?!" Raising a child is more than food & clothing & monitoring..it takes "example" to teach a child compassion, caring, and pride. A parent will never be able to protect their child from "other influences"; and that's not our job. We have got to instill in them the integrity and pride, in themselves, to make the right decisions. No truer words were ever said..."it takes a village to raise a child". Unfortunately, the "village" isn't setting a great example.