Monday 21 January 2008

Garry Newlove - RIP



Look a these children..............

These boys took away the life of an outstanding man, who was ready to stand up for what was right. One of them only just released on bail, and part of those bail conditions were to stay out of Warrington. How dare they. Who are they to do something like that? Calling them animals is an insult to animals. They are scum and now they must pay the price. I hope the British Justice System will eventually deliver a sentence suitable for the crime they have committed, and I hope they DO stay in jail for a very, very long time.

When this crime was committed last year, it rang some very clear bells to me. Several years ago, a group of youngsters - probably no older than 14 or 15, thought it would be a good idea to vandalise one of our cars in front of us, and then give us a load of verbal on top of that. For those of you who were unfortunate enough to know my Ex - husband Lee, this was like a red rag to a bull and he went after them and squared-up to the tallest lad in the group. All of a sudden, the gang increased in size and Lee was surrounded by boys AND girls and they were pushing him towards the gable end of our house. Thankfully, our quick-witted neighbour saw what was going on and phoned the police and told them if they didn't get here quick, they were going to murder him. They were here in 5 minutes with blues n twos going, which was unfortunate in a way as they all legged it and none were arrested for assault or vandalism.

The incident passed, but since then more and more of these events are occurring in our society. Some children don't seem to understand what respectful behaviour is anymore. I worry that my own kids will eventually fall foul of something so horrendous, despite our best efforts to instill the knowledge of right and wrong, good manners and behaviour from the moment they're born.

What do you think the answer is to get the message through to these kids? Do you reckon something like Bootcamp (National Service) would do any good? Do you think it's because they play too many video games and watch too much violence on TV, thus making behaviour like that more "socially acceptable"? Breaking these street corner groups up is effective but only temporarily, and credit to the Police and PCSO's, they do their best within their means, but it's not stopping it from happening.

It's truly a crime that it took Garry Newlove's death to bring these type of things into the public eye once again. Let's hope something more positive is done about this, this time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A very good subject Ali.

I am pushing towards that magical 40 number and I cannot remember the country/world being as bad as it is now.I received this email today and it does say a lot about the mentality of the upbringing of children today.(I have edited it as it was rather long!)

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 50's, 60's, & 70's!!

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate sweets, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because.......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before sunset
No one was able to reach us all day.. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no DVD's, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents .
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We made up games with sticks, mud and tennis balls although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or just yelled for them!
Local footie teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility.


What I think that means is that kids have it too easy these days. Yes, bring back corporal punishment, introduce National Service and blooming well give sentences that reflect the crime. That will then act as a deterrant!Parents can only do so much and need support. This can only come from other sources. I am praying that I can guide my kids enough that they don't feel the need to go and do something wrong!! But that is all I can do!

"climbs down from soap-box"