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DISCUSSION: ARE WE LOSING CONTROL?
Is UK society facing meltdown or is the fear
worse than the reality? Have we forgotten what is right from wrong?
Fuelled by drugs, fuelled by disillusionment, fuelled by emerging tensions from high levels of migration in an already dynamic social environment, city based violent crime is rising. Gun crime is rising, knife crime is rising. The age of the perpetrators and victims seems to be decreasing, involving more and more school children, with almost a constant presence within the media of smiling faces having their lives cut short by “children” with guns and knives.
In spite of the police and government rhetoric … are we losing control?
Drugs flood into our countries from far off places in the world where profits fund terrorism, extremism and organised crime. And in our liberal attitude we debate if drugs are socially acceptable. We seem to accept that people caught with drugs should simply be given a slap on the wrist and sent off to rehab or counselling … and then lost once more into the quagmire of re-offending that add to the climbing stats the middle-class do-gooders and politically correct tend to ignore … until they are a victim of crime.
Communities affected by crime rarely come forward with valid information for the police – because they are afraid. They are afraid to become involved. They are afraid of the responsibility. They are afraid of making a stand. They are afraid of being noticed – and yet complain bitterly when the police can’t solve the crimes, and demand action … from someone.
NEWS FLASH: miracles don’t happen. You reap what you sow. If you don’t put in the effort, you will receive a bad harvest. It’s not enough to simply say you disagree with something. Actions always speak louder than words. And to be honest … actions are largely noticeable because of the lack of action.
Is the UK city society in meltdown?
Because of taxation, because of debt, because of the sheer needlessness of consumerism, because of corporate pressure, because of long hard soul destroying commuting, because of the prevalence of alcohol and drugs and the lack of sanctity within relationships, among others, are the ties that hold families and communities together now unravelling before our eyes?
If there is crime it is the crime of not caring about your children, it is about not caring about your community. If there is crime it is the crime of allowing children to run wild with alcohol and drugs and guns and knives. Has the quest for personal freedom led to too much freedom and the wrong type of freedoms?
Don’t
look to the police or the courts or a completely unrealistic and inadequate
system to sort this problem out for you. In the face of that lack of social
and community action and responsibility, the police can only do so much.
This is YOUR problem. They are YOUR children. YOU know who the drug dealers
are. YOU know who the gang members are. YOU have heard of who has the guns.
YOU know who is committing the burglaries, the muggings, the murders. It is
YOUR society you are pretending there is nothing wrong with, or there is
nothing you can do about the problems we see on nightly television
broadcasts. Some of these crimes are truly horrific and completely shameful
– and they are committed by people in OUR society no one will stand up and
point a finger to.
Shame on you.
There are only so many times you can turn away. You have now run out of options.
Parental responsibility seems to have diminished to such a degree that youngsters can often be seen drunk and smoking drugs on street corners or in parks. It’s just mischief isn’t it? Perhaps they are smashing up some signs or a telephone box … or a car, perhaps beating some unfortunate to death. It’s just mischief.
Some parents have no idea where their children disappear to. Some parents don’t really care … yet claim they do. It is these children that go on to have little or no respect for anyone, anyones property, anyones privacy … anyones lives. They don’t care about being caught because they know the police and courts are virtually powerless. And these parents who cannot believe their “little angels” would ever do any wrong, are stuck in front of the television sets shaking their heads at the state of the world.
Stop turning away and blaming someone else.
Schools have an uphill task trying to teach children. Restricted and ravaged by political correctness, by bureaucracy and the threat of legal action or physical harm, some schools are no longer centres of effective education. Just what has happened to our country?
Is the fabric breaking down?
Without active participation from parents this set of problems will only become worse. As long as there is more money than sense, as long as there is this extremely damaging liberal attitude towards alcohol and drugs, as long as there is an abdication or a lack of responsibility from parents who should know better, this set of problems will only become worse.
Oh it isn’t as bad as all that, I hear someone say.
Really? From your safe suburban living, rapidly becoming suburban enclaves, you have a good and full view of what is beyond your (locked) door? Do you really believe that one lock will keep the wolves from the door? Think again.
What do we need to do?
The most effective method to combat this unacceptable rise in unacceptable crime is through community action, in liaison with the police. Community action: people taking collective responsibility for their communities based on people taking responsibility for their own children, young people, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, neighbours, people they don’t even know personally but know they live nearby. It’s about people taking responsibility and working together to forge the society we all want.
It doesn’t matter where you came from to be here. It doesn’t matter what age you are, what sex you are, what colour your skin is, what your educational background is, how many cars you have. It doesn’t matter. What matters is your willingness to stand up and be counted. Enough is enough. What matters is your willingness to claw back our society – and to create something worthwhile.
This is about community. It’s about people, places, homes, schools, churches, groups, clubs. What do you have if there is no community?
You have chaos.
Bear witness to the chaos gathering and weep at the passing of a society leaving in its wake dried tears, dried blood and vandalised lives.
We as individuals are led to believe we secretly have no power over events. That may be true. It may be that a single ripple upon the face of the ocean will never even be noticed on a surface of other competing and colliding ripples. Yet if these ripples are to combine, if they are to focus and move with the same beat of the same heart, these same individual ripples will become a wave, and a mighty wave it shall be. And this wave, with a million hearts and one single voice, will be greater than the sound of any gunshot, greater than the sound of any abuse, far greater than the sound of any imposed silence.
Do not be a ripple lost on the surface of the ocean. Have heart, have hope, have a voice and be a part of the wave that will sweep away all that is undesirable from the streets of our society. Only then will we be safe to walk again. Only then will our children be safe and secure enough to fulfil their lives … and hopefully be far better people than we can ever be.
Decisions have to be made. This article is about UK society and yet it is the same for the US, for Europe, for Asia, for Africa, for Australia. It is the same for everyone. Decisions have to be made. Have heart and do not accept the chaos. We can be better than this.
We stand together.
Written by: JAMES STUART http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesstuart - new direction and development through innovation
