September 21, 2007

I am so pissed. One of my neighborhood kids, “Jimmy,” showed up at my door around 10:00pm last night after having been attacked and beaten in a local park by kids from a neighboring town. He didn’t know these kids - and he didn’t do anything to provoke the attack; it was racially motivated. He did rightfully defend himself, and fought against the kids - coming away with bruises and a bloody nose. Of course it was at night, when only the cowards would dare attempt such an act.

The mere thought of this unnerved me to the core, and absolutely infuriated me. The fact that this happened in my sleepy little town was even more upsetting. You just don’t think about it going on in your own back yard to your own kids.

Should we have reported it to the police? Probably. But by then, the attackers were gone.

I’m a Community Mom and have a “safe house.” My “kids” know they can come to me and they’ll be protected. I continually reinforce to them the need to be cautious in this day and age. The desire for a peaceful nation is a great dream, but not a reality. The kids just don’t realize the extent and seriousness of hatred and racism that still exists. And they never know what situation they’re going to encounter, but need to be prepared to positively react.

It takes a village to raise a child. We can’t do it alone, yet with combined efforts and interests, we can raise good kids who have sound morals. That starts in the home and spills out into the neighborhood. We need more parents to get involved - to watch after our kids when we can’t be there. If you see something going on that involves kids, don’t turn a blind eye to the situation, step in - be a parent. The bad apples need to be exiled and shipped off where they can learn to get along.

As I dropped Jimmy off, I offered this advice - “Don’t seek revenge. Be the bigger man, and don’t go after them - they’re not worth it. They’ll get their due punishment.” At some point and time down the road, those kids - who’ll be grownups by then - will find themselves, rather unpleasantly (I’d like to think), in a reversed role - probably sitting in a jail cell being someone’s bitch.

I would really like to see some support on this issue. What are you doing in your own neighborhoods to prevent things like this from happening? What types of networks do you have in place. What works, and what doesn’t?

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