THE WILD WEST
Harken back to the
days of the gold rush, to the town of Deadwood and other territories where
lawlessness was the rule of the day. Survival, on a daily basis, was a
given. There were no assurances you would see the sunset on any particular
day and perhaps the only sure thing was that any transgression, however
minor, might see you as dinner for the local pig farmer. How far we have
come...or maybe not.
The surge of violence across our nation should be cause for great concern
amongst the regular folks. I live an hour north of Boston so naturally, the
news from that city catches my eye first, but it signifies a nation-wide
trend. In just the last week alone, in Boston, a five year old riding with
his mother across the Zakim Bridge was shot and killed when a passing
carload of "gangstas" opened fire. This is not a rough part of town. This is
the new, illustrious bridge which leads into the city of Boston, traveled by
nearly everyone entering the city. Last night, another young girl was shot
and killed leaving a club, during some kind of melee, the details of which
are still sketchy. What isn't sketchy is that she was an innocent, an honor
student from out of town, engaged in nothing that should have put her in
danger, much less leave her being delivered to the morgue. Also last week, a
father at a teen hockey game attacked a ten-year old over some perceived
slight or violation. Try to imagine this, as a parent, watching your child
get pummeled by some thug...over a hockey game.
In the last few weeks, nationwide, there has been a spate of familial
homicides. A father/husband taking the life of his spouse and child or
children. It is odd that when one of these things happens, there seems
always to be a couple more following it. As though the event struck some
other unstable soul as a
previously unconsidered solution to his own problems. The unpleasant fact
is, that there are so many of these in just a few weeks, that it is hard to
keep track of them, and further still, they roll in and out of our
collective consciousness like water through a hose.
In Boston, there are neighborhoods so over run with violence, that even the
police don't patrol these areas. It's too dangerous, even for them, and you
can't blame them. The promises of increased police patrols and increases in
policemen have fallen, as usual, victim to budget cuts. Instead, they have
decided to begin helicopter patrols, seeking an opportunity to get a bigger
view, but I'm not sure how effective it will be. Of course, there is always
money for other things which seem so much less important, but in the absence
of any major public outcry, nothing will change. Of course, there will be no
public outcry until the violence begins to seep into the more affluent
neighborhoods, and this may never happen.
So who does the responsibility fall to? Is it time for communities to take
matters into their own hands? Is it time for neighborhoods to rally together
and say "no more"? Even here in New Hampshire, random violence is becoming
more and more a part of daily life. As a parent, I could not in good faith
allow my children, as they grown older, to go to certain places at certain
times of the day, or more likely, night. I thought about how strange it is
that this now becomes a part of parental decision-making. To consider where
and when a certain place might be too dangerous for your child. And then I
think about the incident on the Zakim bridge and realize that there is no
protecting yourself from it. Just weeks ago I traveled that same bridge with
my wife and children. I can't imagine the pain of losing a child to such an
abstract coincidence of time and place.
The problem of course, is that we have a larger and larger segment of
society that, for myriad reasons, has no respect for themselves or anyone
else, and no respect for life in general. Their own life is perceived as
worthless, which makes your life worthless to them by default. The carload
of punks that unloaded a firearm into an innocent five year old should be
hunted down and exterminated. That may sound like a cruel assessment, but
unless we start answering fire with fire, we may find ourselves in very
unlivable circumstances. When there are finally more of them, than there are
of us, we are going to be up the proverbial creek with no paddle. I don't
pretend to have the answers, but I know there is a problem. Maybe it's time
for all of us to lock and load.