Thanks a lot for the kind words. "Hook" is one of my favorite "family movies", so I know exactly what you're talking about here. It's sort of a black and white, lucid look at how a successful man can be an unsuccessful parent. But luckily he learned his lesson in the end.
I doubt society ever will learn the lesson. I posted various versions of what I posted here to all the magazines, and it never got responses, or was ever posted in the letters to the editor section. In this day and age, very few actually want the responsibility of caring for their children. And the suburban migration is just the tip of the iceberg here. I am sure there are other factors here, but I havent figured it out yet
Again, thanks for the post:)
-- K.C. das
I am responding to Jon Katz's "Are Kids Turning Your Kids Into Killers?" Although it was well-meaning, in that the article endeavored to make sense out of what just happened in Santee a few weeks ago, it ultimately failed to be bold enough to point the finger at why our nation's youth, seems to be in increasingly greater danger than ever before.
I have asked some of my older friends (most over 50) about this situation, and they have all told me that guns were much more readily available a few decades ago than they are now. Thus, there is this new mystery as to why there are more violent juvenile crimes occuring now. The answer is quite simple, actually. After the final so-called "Great Migration", from City to Suburbs, the extended family was completely abandoned. No longer did we have this family network that spanned generations. Instead, mother, father, and children, are now doing the best that they can on their own. Add this factor to the higher incidents of divorce and isolation from within the family, as well as having both parents working full-time, and you are left with children who are often left to raise themselves, de facto orphans, if you will.
The suburbs themselves are not the healthiest environment to raise a child. We are seperated from one another via tall picket fences, and an automobile is almost always needed to go anywhere of interest. Children can quite easily be isolated like prisoners in cells in this type of environment. This can cause reactions such as the Santee or Columbine incident, or it can be the cause of many suicides, something Mr. Katz mentions in his article. Without the firm, loving support of multiple family members, and the ability to transcend the many isolating obstacles of suburban living, I see our nation's children as being in great peril unless they just happened to be in that "in crowd" at school.
Growing up in the suburbs, and being "different" from the other children, I was not privy to this "in crowd", and was often picked on by classmates. Had I not had a small but wonderful core group of friends, a loving, supportive extended family, and a spiritually secure self-concept, I would imagine that my childhood would have been horribly depressing and unbearable. The bottom line: if you made the decision to become a parent some years ago, you have the iron-clad responsibility to provide for your children, both financially, as well as emotionally.
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Thanks a lot for the kind words. "Hook" is one of my favorite "family movies", so I know exactly what you're talking about here. It's sort of a black and white, lucid look at how a successful man can be an unsuccessful parent. But luckily he learned his lesson in the end. I doubt society ever will learn the lesson. I posted various versions of what I posted here to all the magazines, and it never got responses, or was ever posted in the letters to the editor section. In this day and age, very few actually want the responsibility of caring for their children. And the suburban migration is just the tip of the iceberg here. I am sure there are other factors here, but I havent figured it out yet Again, thanks for the post :)
-- K.C. das
I am responding to Jon Katz's "Are Kids Turning Your Kids Into Killers?" Although it was well-meaning, in that the article endeavored to make sense out of what just happened in Santee a few weeks ago, it ultimately failed to be bold enough to point the finger at why our nation's youth, seems to be in increasingly greater danger than ever before. I have asked some of my older friends (most over 50) about this situation, and they have all told me that guns were much more readily available a few decades ago than they are now. Thus, there is this new mystery as to why there are more violent juvenile crimes occuring now. The answer is quite simple, actually. After the final so-called "Great Migration", from City to Suburbs, the extended family was completely abandoned. No longer did we have this family network that spanned generations. Instead, mother, father, and children, are now doing the best that they can on their own. Add this factor to the higher incidents of divorce and isolation from within the family, as well as having both parents working full-time, and you are left with children who are often left to raise themselves, de facto orphans, if you will. The suburbs themselves are not the healthiest environment to raise a child. We are seperated from one another via tall picket fences, and an automobile is almost always needed to go anywhere of interest. Children can quite easily be isolated like prisoners in cells in this type of environment. This can cause reactions such as the Santee or Columbine incident, or it can be the cause of many suicides, something Mr. Katz mentions in his article. Without the firm, loving support of multiple family members, and the ability to transcend the many isolating obstacles of suburban living, I see our nation's children as being in great peril unless they just happened to be in that "in crowd" at school. Growing up in the suburbs, and being "different" from the other children, I was not privy to this "in crowd", and was often picked on by classmates. Had I not had a small but wonderful core group of friends, a loving, supportive extended family, and a spiritually secure self-concept, I would imagine that my childhood would have been horribly depressing and unbearable. The bottom line: if you made the decision to become a parent some years ago, you have the iron-clad responsibility to provide for your children, both financially, as well as emotionally.