My subject is nothing new.
It’s been around since Adam and Eve.
Like the snake and the apple.
It’s the enabled kid who throws a ball through a window,
while the enablers, his parents, praise him for his ‘rifle arm’.
And then that kid has no regard for others’ property.
It’s the kid who tells mommy and daddy all the dirt on fellow siblings
And is rewarded for it with carte blanche for continuing to do so
and then becomes the ‘office snitch.’
It’s the rich kid who grows up with a ‘silver spoon’ in his mouth,
who can’t share anything with others.
It’s the poor kid who gets away with outrageous behaviour,
because of his ‘circumstances.’
It’s the immigrant kid who everyone feels sorry for
because he has to learn a new language,
and who winds up getting away with murder.
It’s the difference between right and wrong,
manifesting itself as a lack of accountability,
leading to a lack of responsibility,
resulting in complaining and whining, in claims of being ‘Unfair!’
all of which leads to an unearned sense of empowerment and entitlement,
ending in theft, in property crime, in embezzlement,
and in worst-case scenarios, even in murder.
Once the problem gets out of hand,
once a monster or monsters have been created,
it’s very hard to force the jacks and jills
back into the boxes from which they’ve sprung.
Yet catch the problem early enough
and it can be walked back to ground zero,
where resilient, independent, responsible personalities are forged.
So let there be a call to arms!
Parents and teachers,
supervisors and managers,
mentors, spiritual leaders,
and all those in positions of influence
Take heed! Conduct inventory!
Make sure you teach your charges right from wrong.
Make sure your charges are accountable.
Make sure there are consequences for your charges’ actions and inactions.
Do your best to consistently fit consequences to the (mis)behaviour in question.
Yours is a Solomonic role.
And you have within you a Solomonic ability to carry it out.
May we raise up a generation of young adults
who can tell right from wrong.
May we raise up generations of responsible,
accountable young adults.
May we save the world from the twin scourges of false entitlement and irresponsibility.
May we be responsible adults, my friends.
April 03, 2018 Entry in ‘Social Justice Free Verse’ contest, sponsored by John Hamilton
Copyright © Gershon Wolf | Year Posted 2018