Just shut up

"Don’t bitch about the mess the world is in, if you are not willing to help change things. You should just shut up."

I hear people complain about kids in gangs all the time. Usually adults who have about as much insight as a doorknob. Or apathy so strong that not caring about anyone else becomes their hallmark.

It goes kind of like this...”Well if a kid is involved in a gang, it is his fault, and it was his decision.”

In a sense this is right. But how dare we expect a child to make adult decisions. Especially if the only adult in his life acts like a child. Especially if the adult in his life doesn’t care about his child. Especially if the adult isn’t even present in the child’s life.

How dare we presume to assume that a child would make the same adult decisions that we didn’t make ourselves as kids. Not without guidance and training. That is the very essence of a gang involved kid most of the time. No guidance no training. Yet we expect them to act as such.

I wonder if such people have as callous response to a kid that gets run over in the street by a car. Most kids know that it is dangerous to play in the street. Yet if no one is watching them we normally do not say that the kid should have known better.

It is simply easier to make some sort of offhand remark than to face the reality that in our apathy we are just as responsible for the mess the world is in. We used to watch out for one another, for one another’s kids. Now we just watch out for ourselves. Then complain about everything else, to keep attention off of ourselves.

Those who do so, should either put up or shut up.