Stop the Madness

Burglary is one of the biggest violations done to a family. The feeling that your own private home can have someone in your underwear draw gives me the creeps. I hear the excuses all of the time, it is the economy that is causing the upswing in break-ins. Maybe that is true, but I don’t see in the paper that there are not any break-ins when the economy is good. Going into another person’s home and taking their possessions is vile, nothing more or nothing less.


Look what happened last week in the state of New Hampshire. Four teenagers were charged in connection with the a murder of a young mother and slicing the throat of her ten year old daughter, early last Sunday morning along an isolated dirt road in Mont Vernon, a town of about 2,000.

The New Hampshire Department of Justice identified the victim as 42-year-old Kimberly Cates. The medical examiner determined that she died from multiple sharp injuries to the head, torso, left arm, and left leg. The victim's 10-year-old daughter sustained serious knife injuries that required hours of surgery.

Four teenagers went on a killing spree for fun apparently like a Wes Craven horror movie. What for? I ask myself every minute since I heard of this gruesome display of inhumanity. Why would another human being do that to a mother and her child for fun? These boys were raised middle class and were in Boy Scouts, school plays, and one was a handyman at a Mormon Church, who was about to go on a Mormon Mission. Four boys led astray by something or someone. Will we ever know the real reason this happened? I doubt it and with that said, there is nothing we can do to stop people from turning to the dark side of life, and that is a very sad reminder of just how fragile we all are.

I started asking myself besides Obama’s healthcare and Nobel award, what has dominated the news as of late? Kidnappings of children, parents locking their children in closets, it is a world that has gone astray. I am not one to think life is like the Miracle on 34th Street all the time, but I am a firm believer that one must not just appreciate each other, we protect each other and each other’s children and families

How did we get to a point where people do not respect a human life? When did we start adding metal detectors to middle schools? Think back to the Wyatt Earp days, guns were more plentiful and school age children did not go into schools and start shooting up the school house. I would like to blame this on television and video games, but I do not see it. I used to see the broken down home as the problem, however NH got rid of that.

As an educator I have seen the eyes of the younger generation and I do not like what I see. I do not see the love and respect I once did even ten years ago. I remember as a child looking up to my parents, my teachers, the clergy and just about everyone who was an authority figure. Authority figures were just that authority figures. They made us feel safe and I believe that is where the disconnect is right now. I do not believe for one second that our families feel safe anymore. Authority figures have lost their way as tough love and tough discipline is a thing of the past.

We can not yell at a student anymore or we can not get tough on the ball field without worrying about losing our jobs. Mind you I am not condoning harming a child with discipline, but I feel discipline breeds safety and we need to get that back, the sooner the better.

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e-mail: drcrischasse@verizon.net