Several weeks ago I was standing in my driveway when a boy about the age of 9 was on the sidewalk. He saw me. It didn’t matter. He picked up one of the decorative rocks – that I stupidly paid $2 each for – out of my flower bed, and threw it at a hornets nest in a nearby tree. It all happened so fast that I couldn’t stop him from throwing the rock.
However, I did ask him to pick the rock up and put it back where he found it and he just ran away. Am I surprised? No. Kids have no fear or respect of adults or authority today.
Since the rock he threw landed in the street, it cracked in half. I was angry that the rock was broke and that he ignored my request to pick it up and put it where he found it.
Being we have the technology that we do today, I went to my security camera and captured his image. Again, using technology, I posted his picture on our community website with a description of what he did. I asked if anyone knew him because I would like to talk to his parent(s).
Surprise, surprise! I received three responses from adult neighbors telling me to forget about it because ‘boys will be boys’. All three said the same thing. Now I want to tan the backside of those neighbors for being so ignorant to today’s problem children and lack of parenting and respect.
What prompted me to write about this today was something I saw on Facebook earlier. In a small community about 45 minutes north of my home the local police chief posted a picture of a young man wearing a baseball cap and a mask over the lower part of his face.
Apparently this young man ran through a neighborhood at 11:15pm and rang everybody’s doorbell and ran…hence, Ding-Dong-Ditch…as the chief called it.
The young man was caught on someone’s doorbell camera and the chief is asking if anyone recognizes him. Why? The chief said that people were unnecessarily woken up and he wants to sit down and talk to this young man.
I burst out laughing when I read that. He wants to sit down and talk to this young man??? Seriously?????
With the lack of respect today, that kid will simply tell the chief what he wants to hear, he will apologize and tell the chief he will never do it again, and as he’s walking out of the cop shop, he will most likely flip off the chief.
Being who I am, I replied to the chief’s post on Facebook and told him about my situation from a few weeks ago. I ended that reply with, “Chief…boys will be boys.”
I gave him the same kick in the teeth I got from my community.
All of these little incidents may be insignificant but I can tell you that a dear price would have been paid for these things when I was a kid. And if an adult told you to do something, you did it. There was fear and respect…and the kids today have none of that.
I know, I know…I’m preaching to the choir.
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