I dunno what the solution is tbh, but I think that ALL young people are
branded from an earlyish age, and they tend to live up to what society expects of them... so maybe
our perception needs changed a little.
I grew up in a village outside of a roughish town. I have grown up in what might be termed a 'violent' area, but even amongst that I have seen respect on a level rarely seen amongst the areas I see highlighted on TV nowadays.
I live with my elderly father, and I park my van each night at the edge of a community area which is frequented by a lot of the teenagers, particularly after dark (there is a childs park close by, so it tends to be younger children early on). It is a dark area, and quite quiet. I will happily park my van there, safe in the knowledge that nothing will ever happen to it. I am someone who is prone to not locking things, and have never had any trouble.
I know every one of these teenagers by name, having seen them all grow up from youngsters, I kinda know what most/all are capable of. I see the mischief that a lot of them and any visitors get up to, but I would say that in all my years, I have had trouble personally from very very few. They have their moments, and they cause trouble locally, none are angels really.
They know and respect me for 2 reasons....
1) They know that I will happily walk into a crowd of them and single any one out with a serious underlying threat of violence. I say threat, because I have never really had to show anything other than the threat. One or two of the older ones will have been in local pubs etc at times and seen me dragged into violent situations, of which I tend to hold my own (or take my licking gracefully lol)
*.
2) Every last one of them knows that if he/she needed anything (within reason of course, and the law etc), that my door is always open to any single one of them. If one of the younger lads got himself into bother, I have in the past smoothed things over for them, or gave a little advice on best to diffuse a situation. They also know that I will lend them a few bob, if the cause is sensible (and they know not to lie to me in that case, cos the door closes on liars), and it is very infrequent. They also know I will stand in their corner, as long as my
lines are not crossed, and I will support and help where I can. I have spoken to authorities on one or two's behalf, and I've bailed a couple out of trouble a few times.
As it is, I can walk past, stop and chat to, or generally banter with all or any of them. I would always call on one of those lads if I had a days work they could do (I used a couple to paint a portion of my new office etc).
So the way I see it, it has to be a
mutual respect. I don't treat them like outcasts, and I give them a friendly ear if they need it. But, they also know I have a line, and if they cross it I will happily punish that in whatever manner I see fit. The difference here is, I treat all adults in exactly the same way, so they do not feel in any way treated different or patronised by me.
One thing I always say in defence of these young'uns is... when I grew up in the area we had fields on most sides, and crossing them to the river, etc took us out of the main village and caused the locals less trouble. This generation has seen all sides built up, with industrial areas, etc and new private housing estates. There is absolutely nowhere for them to hang around, so they gather where they can. When they spent a scary amount on a new 'community centre' recently, I wanted to see a separate shelter-type thing built that they could hang out in. Just somewhere for them to gather, even if it was built like a reinforced bus-shelter type of thing.
So maybe we need to look at the world nowadays, and see the changes that have happened since
we were teenagers, and see what these kids
now have, compared to what we had ourselves....... then cut the wee boogers some slack, and listen to
their needs the odd time.
CONCLUSION..........
Punish the really bad ones much more aggressively than we currently do, and reward the good ones a little more often. I reckon we would see a marked improvement in a short period of time.
......................................
Jeez, I have not typed so much since my last effort at incorporation
* that actually makes me sound very rough, and that is far from the truth. Where I live, it is impossible to go out locally every weekend for 20+ years, and not get dragged into some sort of hassle ending in a spectrum of violent outcomes. Here you learn from an early age, it is not good to be a complete pushover.
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