I just read this article if The Huffington Post about three teenagers who killed an older disabled man, and posted video of it on Facebook. Apparently, they were playing a game where they tried to knock someone out with one punch. They chose this man, knocked him out, and left him to die in the concrete alley. While they didn’t realize at the time that they had killed him, they were proud enough of their violence to post it on Facebook for all their friends to see.
It seems stories like these are popping up daily — kids committing horrible acts and then bragging about them on social networks. And it all seems so new and scary and sinister. But really, it’s probably no different than in the past — it’s just that social networks are now electronic sites with traceability rather than school hallways.
But whether or not this type of crime is new, it is still heartbreaking — kids taking their own pain and transforming it into violence against those more helpless than they are. It’s the worst of human nature, the worst of what we can become.
For years, I would read such stories, and I would try to figure out where things went so wrong. Is it a product of economic injustice? Social exclusion? Poor parenting? Poor schools? I would search my brain for a single cause or a single, simple solution. Obviously, none would come to me.
Other times when I would read such stories, I would just get really sad because it all does feel so hopeless. We hear analyses (true or not) about how things are getting so much worse and how our society is crumbling and our values are nonexistent, and we can feel like a pawn in a game that is much too large for us to understand. The inclination then is to cast down our eyes and focus on what is in front of us, ignoring the world at large.
But I don’t think either approach is the most effective. Perhaps we can’t fix all of the ills of humanity because they are inherent in our broken nature, but on the other hand, we don’t have to give in and declare all worthless. Because we all do have a very real power, and that power is in the way we live our lives.
I can’t stop injustice from happening around the world, but I can do my best to ensure that it doesn’t occur in the realms I have control over. I can call it out when I see it. I can work to fix it in the areas I see it in. I can be an example for my children, and I can help them find other people, adults and children, who share similar values. I can believe in the tremendous power a good example sets. I can surround myself with people I respect and admire and who prompt me to do better. And I can make absolutely certain that my girls know why such acts are wrong and why it is never okay to look the other way.
Acts atrocious in this manner stem from deep, uncontrolled pain. It just doesn’t pop up out of the blue. And so whenever we work to heal another’s pain, or even our own, we make a step in the direction of healing and peace.
In an odd way, when I hear stories like that these days, I get inspired. I can’t heal the world, but I can make it a little bit better in my little corner. And that’s all any of us can do. And it’s incredibly powerful.