And More Happy Thoughts.

I'm been following with horror the case of the 15 year old who was gang raped at her Homecoming Dance. I hesitated to post anything about it, just because it's so discouraging, and I try to avoid the "this world is rotten and the apocalypse must be approaching" kind of statements that sometimes consume us with stories like this. It was hard to think of it from a different angle, though. How could all those kids just stand there? How could this be the buzz that was passing around and no one called 911? What is wrong with teenagers?!? These are the questions that I kept asking myself, and it's hard not to when you read a story like this. But I am opposed to teenager hating. Hate on adults all you want, but don't hate on the kids! At least not as a big clump. Hate them in little clumps.

Anyways, I read this article today, and I had a revelatory moment. The writer was responding to a question that is often asked when something horrific happens in our schools: "what is wrong with our children?" He pointed out that often in situations like this, the youth may "not (be) educated on how to stop it." When I read that, I thought, how silly. Ya pick up the friggin' phone and dial 911. Duh. How dumb are these kids? But then he went on to talk about it, and there is some merit to what he says. These kids may not know who to call. They may doubt that anyone will take them seriously, given their age. In an area like the one where the crime was committed, I'm sure 911 gets a lot of hits. Also, who knows if the security guards would have listened to a kid, or if there was any trust established between the kids and the guards/officers on duty. And how do they know they wouldn't be publicly outed as the "narc." While the situation continues to infuriate me, and I 100% think there were kids who heard rumors or saw things that were not so dumb they couldn't have called 911, and kept calling until someone came, I have to think there are other layers and nuances to the situation.

And really, where were the adults? They had to have known the dark spots are good places to check on dance night. All sorts of illegal and inappropriate activities can be gotten up to at a high school dance when given a nice secluded, dark corner. At no point should the adults and security all just park themselves for a nice chitchat.

What this really comes down to, for me, is that we need to continually have a dialogue with the youth in our lives about right and wrong, and what their responsibilities are to the community around them. This sounds like an obvious idea. One girl understood her responsibility, and called 911. But not all kids are getting this basic education. There are some crazy parents out there. I've met them. Some of them need to be educated before they can educate their kids. So get on that, won't you?