What a contrast on the front page of Tuesday’s Free Lance.
The photo feature showed Future Farmers of America members
exhibiting their livestock (pigs, specifically) at the statewide
Surf and Turf jackpot competition.
What a contrast on the front page of Tuesday’s Free Lance.
The photo feature showed Future Farmers of America members exhibiting their livestock (pigs, specifically) at the statewide Surf and Turf jackpot competition.
The lead article on the right was the latest in the sad, awful story of the two alleged Sureno gang members who allegedly beat up another local youth, then ran over him in their new Ford.
Twice.
My deepest sympathies go to the family of the victim.
The two stories make me wonder if we’re all on the same planet.
On one planet, there are kids who somehow grow up thinking raising pigs is fun. I have to admit I don’t know much about it, but some friends adopted a wild pig once, and as Charlotte, as they called her, got bigger and bigger, I could see that caring for a pig was not a job for sissies.
Having raised a couple of puppies into dogs, I do know that nurturing an animal teaches one a lot.
You learn about consequences, for example: If you don’t pay attention, you’ll have a mess to clean up.
You learn about responsibility. An animal, whether pet or livestock, is not a toy that can be neglected once the novelty has worn off. Our friends had to make sure Charlotte had enough to eat and drink twice a day, no matter what the weather, or whether they had colds, or had stayed up too late the night before.
And you learn about compassion. The self-sufficient habits of their wild ancestors long forgotten, domesticated animals, no matter how big or scary, depend on us for their survival and care.
The kids who were pictured showing the pigs at the FFA event looked pretty young. By the time they’re 17 and 18, the ages of the suspects in the recent murder, they’ll probably be furthering their ag education or already working in agriculture. Or they may take a completely different direction and go into auto mechanics or theater or rocket science.
But I bet hardly any of them will deliberately run over somebody in a car.
On the other planet, you have the kids who are so angry, and out of control, and unsupervised and unaccountable, that they deliberately killed a boy their age.
On this planet it’s very fashionable to adopt “thug” mannerisms and language even if you’re not a violent criminal. A large part of our population, including a lot of the kids I work with, are infatuated with thug life, with all its insulting slang, brutality and harshness. The kids I work with aren’t bad kids, but they’re stained with the supposed glamour of the mean streets.
On this planet, the up-and-coming generation is so alienated that the only way to get their attention is to be more in-your-face than the last gangsta. But the real gangs are deadly.
And guess what, it’s all really one planet after all.
