I think I might know a bit of the feeling you are talking about, katrina. We seem to have had a run of ugly stuff happen that involved the kids of some of our friends and the friends of some of our kids.
In one case, it took an unwanted pregnancy to get one young woman (teen) to go back to the home that she had seen as too "restrictive" before. She will now have a tough row to hoe as a result of her choices. And I know it takes 2 - how does society get the young buck to take responsibility when he is too young and stupid to be a man?
And today we just learned that the son of some friends of ours is in jail for lighting a stack of square bales on fire, while two others face charges of being accessories. These are all kids that have occasionally been in and out of our doors, interacting with our own kids.
All of them have had some close brushes with the law before, and seem to loose any and all good judgment when they get in cahoots with each other. The one young chap called our oldest son (who has been something of a buddy to him) to tell him what they had done.
My son seemed to get the idea from their conversation that remorse is less beneficial than restraint. Even though I know all of there kids, my initial reaction is to lay a lash or two across their backs. I don't know if that is right or wrong.
WHERE ARE THESE BRATS GOING TO LEARN RESPONSIBILITY? Aaarrrrrgh!
