The Rye Jones case

Several teenagers shot dead a child! If it is not shocking, what could it be? Britain is not alone. Such horrible things happen in other places and not rarely. We ask ourselves - why?

Now who should we point the finger at?

Let's try to see from different perspectives.

Victim's parents: We are trying to get around our head of what was actually happening. We loathed the loss of their child. He was so young. He was just a baby! He was everyone's little darling! How did the murderers' parents bring up children who could kill someone so innocent, so young!

Murderers' parents: I will not turn my child in, of course not. Not even if I know and I witness the killing. That's betrayal. No parents should do that. I firmly believe that if my child has killed someone, it is justified. Also, that child deserved to die because he must have offended my child. My child is such a darling sweetheart. He would not even hurt a fly. If he kills someone, that's for a good reason. If unfortunately my child get caught, I would do everything possible to hire the best barristers to fight for 'justice'.

People with a modern attitude: Too bad! What a pity! Not my business anyway and it's better that I don't get involved. Well, the police were not doing enough. They should have put more police on the streets, installed more CCTVs and what not. Whatelse? Ah, the social workers have not done enough, the schools and teachers have not done enough, the politician have not done enough and the governement have failed us.

The minority, the old-fashioned and those with a conscienc: Everyone of us has the social and moral responsibility to teach our children to behave well, to be considerate, have respect for others, to have compassion for others, to take good advice, to be brave to admit mistakes and not to repeat them, to take responsibility of our decisions, to do the right things and make contributions to society. Also, we should empower our schools, teachers and the police to teach our children. We should not just focus on brainwashing the children that 'they are just perfect, most wonderful, special, gifted, talented, and are more important than others and that they can do anything they like and can achieve anything they want. If they couldn't, that's somebody's fault.'

We are given the rights to have children. Remember we don't need to get a license or to take an exam to have one. Our society is investing so much on our children from the first minute they came to the world. It is our definite responsibiltiy to make sure that our children are 'good' for the world and for our community, that they should not be 'parasiting around', 'rubbishing about', 'loitering 24/7' and 'lounging around'. Yes, we understand that some children are blessings and joy while others, a walking problem and nightmare no matter what their parents do. If we are not the 'lucky' parents, at least we must do our part to nurture the child and to get help from others so that the 'bad nature' could be suppressed and under control.

It is hard sometimes because no parents would want to face the reality that their child is a like a school report card with all failures and negative comments. It hurts so much and no painkiller can help subside that pain. As they think that there's nothing much to be done, so, the only way out is to deceive themselves through and through. Or, they put the blame on others. They blame everyone and everything, to the point that they are sometimes, accomplices, themselves. And that directly pave their children's way to destruction.

We must bear in mind that when we exercise our human rights to conceive and have a child, we have actually agreed to a social and moral contract that we must teach this child well and properly. If this child unfortunately turned into a socially disruptive person, we should have the courage to cooperate with the authority to stop him and get help.