Raising Peaceful Kids

I’m glued this morning to the TV and what is happening in Boston.

It is hard to imagine an entire city is on lock down.

I look at that suspect and all I can see is a kid.

He is only a year older than Al’s son who was going off at lunch

a week ago,  blustering largely and trying to sound tough.

Very unAl like.

Al got really annoyed and was telling me that the boy was a total softie

and didn’t mean any of what he said.

He was just trying to sound tough.

Is this kid a softie inside?

Did he realize that what he was doing was real?

Did he realize that it would ruin his life and bring entire

 American law enforcement agencies down on his head?

And that we would cheer about it?

 

At 19 years-old you are a kid. 

He can’t even order a beer.

 He could barely vote in the last election.

His schoolmates and neighbors are saying he is a nice boy.

 

I’m sick about it all.

 There is nothing bad enough to say.

How do we instill peace in our children?

We don’t glorify weapons or war for a start.

We don’t talk about hatred.

We don’t talk about hating the government.

We point out the goodness in humanity.

We show them by example  racial tolerance

and our belief that all people are created equally.

 We foster feelings of universality 

with the rest of the world.

We are all human beings.

We teach compassion.

We don’t let them hear out of our mouths hate talk..

 

I could think of more but y’all might think I was preaching.

But I will say that I saw on my FB page a comment on Wednesday

posted by a friend saying that they wish Obama had gotten the letter.

I did the delete friend thing.

Not because I love the President or the job he is doing.

But because there was hatred in my line of vision.  

And my belief that anyone that thinks that way is not one bit better

than the boys who set those bombs or sent the letters.

Just my 2 cents.