Having My Say Continues


1999 Article





May 30, 1999

(Short letter to editors preceding the essay)

Dear Editor:

We have a most serious problem in this nation in
regards to violence by young people. It is a
problem that is not going to be solved
by politicians pursuing gun control.

Thanks for any consideration.





May 28, 1999

Why the devil don’t we stop pussyfooting around and get to the Problem?


I personally am getting sick of the turmoil over gun control legislation. First, it is not guns that kill people - it is people that kill people. The gun is only a tool.

If not guns, the killing will be done by using other means, whether it be a car driven into a crowd, bombs, poisonous gases, knives, or one of the many other tools people use to take the lives of others. The urge to be noticed, or the insane need to relieve pressure, even if it takes killing, will be satisfied.

Second, forget the crappola being doled out about guns by politicians. Their goal is a simple one - do away with the Second Amendment so the public will not have a means of defending itself against the government as it establishes totalitarianism.

The real problem we should be concentrating on is finding out why and how parents are alienating their kids from society. Why are young people developing the will to kill in an effort to be important, to be recognized as a viable force, or simply to respond to psychopathic urges?

Children learn by age three or so half of everything they will ever know. Therefore, the most important impact on their lives is their own immediate family. Alienation from society and feelings of worthlessness begin at home. Thus, the home is the start of our society’s failing to develop societal right and wrong in young people.

Public education and interaction with peers and significant others then lend to young people’s developing poor self-images and anti-social personalities. Coupled with extremely poor self-images is the lack of inner strength to ward off all the negatives society throws at them. This lack is the fault, first and foremost, of parents.

Whether experts agree or not, our society, beginning with parents, is producing kids who would rather kill, including themselves, than adapting to society as a peaceful member. Guns are not doing this - the people who biologically produce the children are.

Respect for one’s self is being ignored. Respect for others is being ignored. Respect for human life is being ignored. Responsibility for one’s actions is being ignored. Development of positive mental attitude is being ignored. Compassion for others is being ignored. Spiritual well-being is being ignored.

In addition, discipline has gone by the wayside; boundaries of behavior are not being set. Not only does this apply to the home, but to society in general. Schools cannot exercise punishment in hardly any form since it might psychologically damage children. Never mind that the lack of punishment can lead to far worse damage, both for the individual and society.

Kids behave in ways not even remotely related to a civilized beings, such as running into people in stores, being rude, openly hostile, disrespectful, and no one every sets them straight. Are their rights any more important than those they abuse?

The primary cause of this are parents who do not have the guts to discipline their children. And no, this doesn’t mean to beat the crap out of them although I have seen many that certainly deserved a good, healthy spanking.

Anyway, there are other ways of punishing and establishing boundaries of behavior besides beating people with sticks, belts, what have you. As an example, if a parent says no to something, then by gosh, ‘no’ should be stuck to, even if the child is only two and throwing some kind of fit. Do not give in to the child’s wishes.

Rather than taking everything up so the child won’t pick things up and break them, teach respect for other people’s property.

If grounded, then keep them grounded for the duration stated. But, of course, grounding will not do any good unless the parents have established a good relationship early in the child’s life, meaning boundaries are established very early in the child’s life and within a framework of love and caring.

Love and caring must be the foundation rather than the dislike, maybe even hate, so many parents seem to have for their children and vice versa. Maybe that is getting to the root of the problem. I mean, if parents really cared for their children, wouldn’t they teach them properly rather than allowing them to behave unchecked without guidance of a postive nature.

Maybe there are too many people who simply shouldn’t be parents because of their own lack of responsibility and poor self-image. And, no, just because everything is given to and/or provided for a child , doesn’t mean people are ‘good’ parents. (Nor, by the way, does the biological capability of producing offspring.)

There is also this that must be said: If you think you have the responsibility necessary to become pregnant or cause a woman (meaning a female who is biologically mature as indicated by puberty having been reached) to become pregnant, then make sure you have the willingness to give the child produced the necessities, including love, spiritual training, giving up your time to help them learn, treating them with respect and demanding they do the same in return.

It is easy to buy stuff and/or to give in to a child’s demands. Young kids are quick to realize this. By the time they are two years old, most have their parents trained to give in to whatever it is the child wants. The kids are the bosses with the parents filling the role of servitude.

And the back talk. It really irritates me to hear how some kids talk to their parents. Wow, some of the kids today are really lucky they didn’t live a few generations ago, especially prior to Spock (which just gave parents an easy way out rather than giving proper means of socializing children, an extremely difficult task).

I have heard parents out in public called ____ing idiots, bitch, dumb bastard, mother____er, and so on while the parents did absolutely nothing to control it.

It is highly probable that ‘spare the rod’, so to speak, was one of the worst mistakes this society of ours ever made. A spanking used properly at least establishes boundaries of behavior. And without a doubt, a good spanking is far better than producing a socially deficient outcast that takes it out on society around him by maiming, beating, or killing.

Kids want to belong and to know they belong. A spanking doesn’t ruin that but being allowed to run rampant over parents can as it often leads to parents being ignored and the kid just running around without any sense of direction. No controls, no sense of belonging to that which should the most important group he can belong to, his own family.

Here’s a recommendation. If you aren’t ready to nearly devote your lives to preparing any offspring to live in a civilized manner with a great sense of self, then don’t have any. Keep your pants up or your dress down but don't give in to peer pressure or any other pressure that might result in an unwanted pregnancy.

If you are ready or think you are, then have them but, if you can’t handle the time and effort required, then give your child up to people who want kids and are willing to raise them properly. Not everyone, including women, has the ability to raise children in our complex society.

Some parents even hate their kids but, since that is socially unacceptable to admit to, they instead warp their kid’s minds because of their own inner turmoil. They give them too much without any sense of responsibility and respect being established.

To sum this up, although I could go on and on with real examples, here are my conclusions:

Parents are the primary cause for alienation of their kids from society.

Parents have primary responsibility for their children’s attitudes and social development.

Parents also hold primary responsibility for the failure to teach their kids respect for themselves and others. Parents must also acceept responsibility for failing to teach their kids a sense of responsibility along with the ingrained desire to do what is right.

Whether you like it or not, whether you agree or not, that is how it is. There isn’t any mystery about it; there is no confusion, nor no other issue concerning violence and other socialization problems in kids that don’t stem from the above.

So, you see, guns aren’t the problem - Parents are. But what politician is going to say that since parents make up a majority of the voting public.

And, until parents understand and accept they are the root of the problem, there will always be young people reacting violently even if there isn’t one firearm left on Earth.

But, another related problem lending to the violence in our youth is parents and others don’t like to accept responsibility for their actions (or lack of actions) either. The result - parents look to blame something else other than themselves for their failings with their own children.

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time to take responsibility. If not, the turn to violence by young people is going to increase as will other social ills. Ignore this warning, as is the norm in our society, and the price will become increasingly higher.


And I really don’t think any of us want to see this happen.





Having My Say
Letters and Essays
1999 Articles

Next Article