I can't help but wonder if the London Riots are simply the tip of a bigger more ominious iceberg that is about to tear a whole into the heart of our culture and society ...
Last night on CBC Radio as I was driving home from Stratford I listened to the many bits and pieces they broadcast about the ongoing riots in Britain. I found myself nodding in agreement with the politicians who posit the blame for much of this on the shoulders of parents who have failed miserably in providing their children with quality time, value as people and citizens and most important of all: a moral compass. When I heard the clip on "As it Happens" from the BBC interviewing rioters in Birmingham who were proud that they had looted a store for things they could afford, but didn't want to spend money on a penny dropped for me ...
The problem is societal. For the last twenty years we've valued and dare I say as a theologian, worshipped the consumerist lifestyle, falsely believing that commericalism will cure all that ails us. The most chilling example of this might be George W. Bush in the smouldering wake of 9/11 telling American to 'continue shopping' as though nothing was wrong ... somewhere along the line we've sold our collective souls to the company store, and our company store bears names like Nike, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and so on ...
We've displaced real relationships with people for our relationships with stuff ... we marvel through shows like Hoarders, at people who have too much stuff, and we rail when people with too little stuff seem to abuse food banks and charities ... yet, the effect of placing our emphasis on STUFF is most harshly revealed in places like London, Birmingham and the other city centres across England that are smouldering in the wake of these ongoing riots.
The problem is not solely disenfranchised and alientated youth - the problem is our SOCIETY.
We've lost our moral compass.
We value massive houses on acreages as the symbol of wealth while failing to recognize that many in our communities today can barely put food on the table while others doors away live with such abundance that they think NOTHING of building a 400 000 dollar house with a 7 car garage and filling it with the newest electronics and latest gadgets, all the while ignoring the profound and devestating effects this unchecked consumerism is having on our community, our region, our country and our planet.
We've bought into a flawed idea that happiness will be found wearing the right clothes, using the right gadgests, eating the right foods, driving the right car, and hanging out with the right people ... what we've failed to acknowledge is that such pursuits eventually need, nay they demand, that only the newest and the latest will suffice.
The rat race we're on as a culture is offensive on EVERY LEVEL and we close our eyes to it ...
Want to stop the riots in England and prevent them elsewhere?
My solution is simple - turn off the crap on our screens like Jersey Shore and the other shows that stress bad behaviour, an indulgent lifestyle and a lack of responsibility ... next, take these young people and sit them down with the folks who's lives they've disrupted and let them listen to how their selfishness has effected others ... then finally, as parents and citizens, let's insist that our kids need to take off their caps as a sign of respect, pull up their damned jeans, stop talking the jibberish that passes for 'street talk' and start being RESPONSIBLE and most of all RESPECTFUL members of society.
Let's start teaching our children the meaning of the word "NO" and stop indulging them ... if we fail to heed the warnings the riots in Britan are simple the start of a new troubling trend !!
P.S. I find it funny that there was a timely article on parenting in a recent Atlantic magazine - check it out by clicking here!!
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