As citizens of South Africa, violence has become almost second nature to us, and, sometimes, we tend to not be overly affected by it. But, this past week, I witnessed an act of violence which made me stand still and ask, “Why are our children so violent?”
The video, which was probably the second or third one of its kind I’ve seen this month, showed a high school girl being filmed while ‘talking’ to a fellow learner. As the video progresses, it quickly becomes evident that this is not a friendly conversation between two friends. The boy is clearly intimidated by the girl, as she taunts him with questions, asking him repeatedly why he is scared of her. And, just like that, this altercation escalates to a point where she not only swears at him (very explicitly) but proceeds to punch him until he falls to his knees, all the while being taunted. All this happens while she is being cheered on loudly by fellow learners, as well as the mystery person behind the camera. What is worse, is the fact that nobody is trying to help and everybody is laughing.
As a parent, this made me sick to my stomach. What is this girl being taught at home? Is this an example set by someone at home? Why is it that our children are so angry all the time, and why is it that they believe that behaving in such a manner is the right way to go? Why do they feel that violence is always the first step? And, I think most disturbing is, why do they believe it is right to pick on people that are clearly vulnerable, and make their lives a living hell? If these are the future leaders of our world, I must be honest and say the future looks pretty bleak.
Parents need to stop making excuses for their children’s behaviour and allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions. Otherwise they will never learn to be accountable and will always have a sense of entitlement, and the reasoning that ‘the world owes them’. We need to start leading by example, because children tend to copy what they see, rather than do what they are told.
We were entrusted with the responsibility of raising responsible and accountable human beings, who will one day, we hope, be well-balanced adults, capable of leading by example and raising responsible and accountable children of their own, to be the leaders they were meant to be.
Until next week …
