Parental Vacuum

There's a post at espresso roast about a 14 year old girl being shot by her 28 year old boyfriend.

Now, this story of a fourteen year-old girl, shot by her twenty-eight year-old boyfriend. A twenty-eight year old boyfriend?! What the heck is going on here? What are parents doing letting a fourteen year-old girl have a boyfriend twice her age? Has it really gotten so bad that parents have just completely given up on the whole idea of actually parenting?

Sometimes I'm just speechless. Not because I'm surprised (who can be in today's culture?), but because I just don't know what to do.

I know one thing; I fully intend not to rely on society to raise my children. Thinking that, however, makes me sad. I may be able to raise my children well, but I still have love for others and I can't (in good conscience) turn my back on society (even though that would probably be much easier.)

My first footnote here addresses what I think is a start to a solution. My part, I think, its to accept responsibility where it is due, and to assign it where it is needed. No more "slap on the wrists" punishments for legal trouble or societal ill. But still, what does that do for the immediate problem? Maybe not much, but problems can't always be solved immediately.

Sometimes I think the best thing I can do is to encourage common sense and mutual respect with the people around me. A few years ago my then-girlfriend and I decided that driving in the Washington, DC area was bad enough already and that maybe a little friendliness would do us well and even start to change the landscape. We make sure we use our turn signals early and often, and we wave a "thank you" to other cars when we pass them on the highway (even if they didn't do anything to help us change lanes in front of them.)

Stories like this make me realize that if I want the world to be a better place, I need to be a better person. I am, after all, an integral part of this world; so are you.