From Shock to Responsible Action

(4:45am) My entire body cringed as the news anchor announced the headline. I felt immediate disgust – an experience reserved for the melodramatic in my mind. From disgust to stomach sickness, to anger laced with rage, to heartache, to utter sadness; this downward spiral of emotion all at the thought that there are young people in this country so pain-stricken that they repudiate civilization. My mind searches aimlessly to understand how a teenage girl might be repeatedly raped and beaten for 2.5 hours by a gang of children with hardened-hearts as her attack is made a spectacle to satisfy the sick curiosity of reprehensible onlookers. But in my quest to make sense of vile senselessness, I soon recognize that my shock is not surprise. Young people are crying out from the anguish through which they experience the world. And as their cries become less vocal, their behaviors become more heinous. Why call out when your requests seem to always go unanswered? Why give voice to the fear and darkness that haunts you when the world seems pre-occupied with waging wars and protecting ideologies? Why speak your name or tell your story when you live in a shroud of invisibility which is only recognized when you act out from your most base nature? In our ever evolving high-tech, low touch society our children are being bombarded with mixed messages on civility. Our adult fears about terrorism, foreclosure and joblessness collide with their youthful fears about belongingness, identity and survival as we are rendered a nation paralyzed by fear. Numb to our own humanity, we model for our children how to exist in a world out to get us. No place seems safe enough to relax your guard. Normalcy has become a perpetual state of “fight or flight”. And our children learn that livin’ ain’t easy, life is hard and you must fight to stay alive. However, the figurative is lost on their youth. So they fight. They fight hard. They fight constantly. They fight with everything that they have. But what for? What is the message that is being confused with their behavior? Listen carefully and you will hear in 2.5 hours of rape: “I am in need of attention;” “I am hurting;” “I feel hopeless.” Look more closely and you will see in countless murders in cities like Chicago: “I need guidance;” “I am lonely;” “I am afraid.” Check out the tunes blaring from their ipods and it will become clear: “I am mis-educated;” “I am confused;” “I am desperate.” And as we begin to hear correctly and see correctly, hopefully we’ll become more compelled to save our children from a manufactured demise. Hopefully we will see more squarely our collective neglect. Hopefully we will be willing to take compassionate action to heal their hearts and ease their minds and return to them the gift of childhood.