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24 July 2016

A Precious Commandment


Just a few headlines to greet one day, there have been many more killings since:

Partner charged with author murder
Murder arrests over teenager death            
Boy guilty of ‘fit girl’ row murder
Boy (16) charged with murder of girl
Girl arrested for the murder of elderly lady
Gang of youths stab young boy
Divorced father and children found dead in car
Elderly pensioner (lady) attacked and killed for money
Playground murder, boy arrested
Gang stab boy at bus stop
3 men and 15 year old boy arrested for murder of teenager
Man charged for partner death

Thou shalt not kill, yet every day the media carries news of more murders. Don’t they teach the Ten Commandments anymore? Don’t parents guide their kids along the right path?  I think not, since killing has become fashionable.

Murder has become popular with young boys and girls and those adults with broken marriages when husbands think nothing of killing their children to spite their wives – quite often the wife is also disposed of. What happened to love and respect and tolerance?

There are many respectable and decent kids but there are too many who have no scruples; are they or were they not taught by parents or in school that it is wrong to take a life? What sort of families do they belong to or will eventually raise?

Terrorism is another matter for obvious reasons. But it has become a fascinating challenge to younger folk. I am thankful there are no gullible kids in my family but numbers are growing elsewhere and killing is rife. 

Is there a deterrent? It seems that with all the publicity in the press and on television young people are beginning to think it’s normal to do such things? Certainly the thought of life in prison doesn’t seem to worry those who commit these terrible crimes. They probably think imprisonment is like having the cane, a few thrashes and it’s all over.

I fear for the future. It stands to reason it will get worse unless drastic steps are taken. But where do we start? Schools? Church? The media?

12 comments:

  1. Valerie, thank you for sharing your feelings and thoughts on this matter. I too having been thinking these same things lately. It seems that every time we turn on the television or computer, or read a newspaper, it's always about someone killing someone, or terrorism. This last incident that occurred in Nice, France was just horrendous. I finally had to stop watching the news because anytime I saw something about it, I could not stop crying. Even now, thinking about it makes me cry. I mean how could anyone do something like that? My heart aches for those people who were affected by this attack in France. I can't even imagine the grief that their family and friends are going through.

    What I can't understand is where is all this hate and anger coming from? And what's really scary to me is that it seems to have gone viral because it's happening everywhere.

    I honestly don't know what the answer is to how all this can be deterred. But what I do know is that there needs to be a huge change in conscious or like you said, I fear it will get worse.

    Again, thank you for sharing this post today, my friend!

    X

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  2. It is all of them. I fear as well,

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  3. Ron, I was in two minds about publishing this post but the anger inside me forced the issue. I left terrorism out as much as possible because it's a different issue, although one that youngsters could take as exciting. Terrorism will be dealt with but who, beside the law, is going to deal with the average kid from an average family. What happened to parental influence and authority?

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  4. It used to be quite shocking to read those headlines and people would say "Did you hear about.....!" Now it's hard to keep the incidences straight and one tragedy runs into another. I just can't read them or listen to them on the news anymore, not because I don't care. It's too much for my brain to process on why these things keep happening and people no more say "Did you hear.....", because it's becoming so commonplace. Good thoughtful post.

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  5. As someone living in Europe, it is sometimes a little scary to read about these events occurring literally on a daily basis. I wish I knew the answer. Until then, all we can do is spread all of the love that we can...

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  6. OE, 'until then, all we can do is spread all of the love that we can...'

    If only it was that simple. I'm not sure I could penetrate all the hate that is going around but if we all put our minds to it who knows what we could achieve.

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  7. kden, you are absolutely right. Acceptance has become an easy way of not bothering or getting involved. It certainly is a sad state of affairs.

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  8. Hi Valerie, the headlines are just dreadful. Is it that this kind of thing has always been out there, or are we just hearing about it instantly because of all this technology we have? I don't know what the answer is but I like Optimistic Existentialist's answer, 'spread the love'. When there are more people the world over teaching their children, grandchildren to yes, be sensible and use their common sense but also be more tolerant and kind, we might get somewhere. Will it ever happen? I'm a hope-ist!

    Good to be visiting again. I am slowly getting back into blogging and catching up with my on-line friends. Operative word being 'slowly' :)

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  9. It's becoming commonplace that we are becoming numb to it, and even when something really, really, really awful happens we still don't do anything about it at least in America. I'm not sure what it's going to take to say enough is enough. I sure hope it happens soon.

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  10. I suspect that many of these things are more obvious to us now than in past days when there would just have been a paragraph in the papers (not for the atrocities, obviously, sadly, but the one off crimes). It is hard to know what part publicity plays, but the internet's wide availability of information makes such a difference, and one which I feel has not yet been properly studied. Do you agree?

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  11. Jenny, yes I agree. Unfortunately the internet is just another media that broadcasts these things and I bet more young folk tune in to that much more than reading the press.

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  12. I share your concerns. But, despite the horror in the world, I believe we will ultimately beat ISIS and, generally, believe that increased respect for life is one of our greatest achievements. It may take time, but we're getting there.

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