Police Arrest Two In Stabbing Case, (Perps 8 and 12 year old, Victim 5 year old white girl)

nbc4 ^ | June 6, 2002 | AP

[Stat-boy]

I pack a little heat, and stay out of MD

Both great suggestions, and the latter is the most important. It’s amazing to me the risks that people (knowingly or not) assume. For example, I live well outside of downtown; in other words, I live in the burbs. Crime is lower, we are miles and miles from the nearest project, and so on. The tradeoff is that I have a longer commute to work and we are not in a trendy area of town. I have colleagues that live in nice homes which are much closer to downtown, but while their immediate neighborhood may look fine, they are blocks away from streets that I would not feel comfortable walking around in at night. Why take the risk? Why place family in such a situation? Is it worth being closer to the trendy restaurants?

[Richard Kimball]

How is it they are so destructive or lack understanding of what a serious harm they are doing? Why didn't those that raised and educated them put a spark of compassion into these girls?

Excellent observations. Two points to make: First, despite all the "it's for the children" rhetoric, society, through all media, make it obvious that raising children is the least important thing in the world. Second, many children today aren't raised. They're left to grow like weeds.

There are a lot of idiotic homilies out there, like "given an opportunity, children will make the right choice." Nobody ever had to teach a kid to push another kid down and take his toy, or to try and steal a candy bar from the corner store. You have to teach them NOT to do that. Unfortunately, when this generation of children is grown, I think we'll be past the point of no return. Third World, here we come.

[mafree]

I guess that's why Landover Mall is closing, and all of the major stores have left PG county.

Thanks for the ping mhking.

I went to college in DC, and Landover was a really nice mall back then. Parts of PG County were kind of rundown and not-so-safe then, but that was BC (Before Crack), so I imagine it's even worse now. Too bad.

[shezza]

...many children today aren't raised. They're left to grow like weeds.

Ditto that, and shame on the parents who focus so much on self that their kids are left to be "raised" by the neighborhood thugs (who themselves were raised by other thugs when they were just babes). The cycle continues until someone decides to stand up and take responsibility for training up a child in the way he should go...and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Selah)

Problem is, too many kids today are encouraged to follow the "if it feels good, do it" philosophy, pushed by the self-esteem crowd at your local PS. ("Oh my, we mustn't embarass the child or correct him...he might get his feelings hurt!"). There are no consequences to actions any more, so why bother even considering such? If someone offends you, even by her tiny presence, just do whatever you feel like doing. She must somehow deserve it, right?

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.