I know that many of the kids Verity wrote about come from less than perfect parents, but who really is a perfect parent? A boat without a rudder to guide it will eventually run into a rocky shore and sink. The same applies to children.
Someone needs to guide them with care and compassion, or they too will float aimlessly and run into dangerous waters. What chance do most of us have - let alone a child - of survival without someone to offer us a lifejacket in life's rough seas? If not family, then who? Unfortunately, too many times it's no one, and a child (or any of us) will grasp for anything if not prepared emotionally and spiritually.
Another scapegoat Verity could have mentioned is poverty. Yes this part of town is poor, but being a loving, responsible parent costs nothing. Nothing but time, that is.
Can it be true that a child will just join a gang simply because it provides them more of a "family" than the one they were born into? All of us need love. Shouldn't it come from the right places?
Yes, the city government should do more to help, but these children in crisis aren't the government's kids, they're ours: plain and simple. And if we aren't there to throw them that pivotal lifejacket, that guidance, then they just drift away into trouble.
Sadly, due to abuse or neglect or sometimes both, we've doomed them right from the start. And when a gang is the only thing to fill this void, we've doomed them to an early end.
It's the parents who love and guide their children. They offer them a chance for a future with hope and possibilities. It's really not that complicated. As the song says, "love is the answer." It's plain and simple.
Mike Mervis
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