posted on December 19, 2000 12:36:04 PM new
I just came back from a expidition trying to find a birthday card for my step-daughter. I ended up in a outlet mall out of desperation.
There were two state police cars parked by one of the stores; I didn't pay much attention and I kept driving to find a parking place. I ended up making a circle back and finally got a spot.
Well, when I got out of the car the police had a teenager handcuffed while they were going through his car. He didn't look old enough to be driving. From the conversation he had admitted to shoplifting. As I walked by, practically close enough to touch him, seeing the handcuffs on this kid, and don't ask me why, but I started crying my eyes out right there in the parking lot. I had to go back to my car and sit there long enough to pull myself together and get out of there.
I have no idea why this affected me so much.
I'm thinking, why isn't this kid in school and why don't his parents know that he isn't?
posted on December 19, 2000 01:00:24 PM new
helnjoe - It affected you because you care that a young life has started down the wrong path. You cry because you hope that kid has parents or siblings to sit him down and talk to him. You cry because you know our future is our youth and it hurts to see them drift into confusion.
The day to really get worried is when something like doesn't affect you. Then you have lost hope for our future.
posted on December 19, 2000 06:06:21 PM new
Maybe he had no money & sees everyone else spending tons during this holiday season & however misguided, felt that shoplifting was the only way to get a gift for someone special to him....
Teenhood is very difficult, a road filled with obstacles like hormone changes, uncontrolable mood swings, no idea of who you are combined with peer pressure, outside influences on TV, radio, movies etc, drugs & alcohol....
Just because a child misbehaves does not mean that he doesn't have parents who care....His parents may love him with all their heart & soul...and may be trying every tool available to help him see the err of his ways & the proper accepted behaviors....Trust me...if you could walk a mile in my moccasins, you might understand..
posted on December 19, 2000 07:49:09 PM newMaybe he had no money & sees everyone else spending tons during this holiday season & however misguided, felt that shoplifting was the only way to get a gift for someone special to him....
How touching. Unfortunately, you missed the part where he DROVE to the mall, either in his own car or Mom's...unless you're suggesting that he "borrowed" somebody else's car to go "shopping" for gifts.
Odds are the kid's shoplifting at this time of year because there's more stuff in stores, more crowds, and therefore easier pickings than in, say, April when there's 3 shoppers in the whole menswear department.
Personally, I'd be delighted to see the kid had been caught before he got REALLY "misguided" and decided to trade up to car stereos.
posted on December 19, 2000 10:23:38 PM new
So much information derived from a scant observation and an overheard (partial) statement.
He may have been a baby-faced, dope using, repeat offender punk on his way to being a societal predator and possibly a future serial killer or pedophile, or both.
posted on December 19, 2000 10:44:38 PM new
I know where you're coming from helnjoe. Sometimes I have emotional reactions to things that never bothered me, or barely blipped my radar 20 years ago. When I first started to react to the nightly news or things I read in the newspaper, I used to think my hormones were running amuck, but I don't take birth control pills any more, and I still tear up when I really would rather not. I'm pretty good at covering, so no one usually catches me at it.
I've decided it means that I have learned to empathize with others and I'm not as ignorant, self-centered and shallow as I was when I was young.
