The value of childhood is easily blurred in today’s world.
Consider some recent developments: the child murderers in the Jonesboro.
Schoolyard shooting case were convicted and sentenced. Two boys, 7 and 8, were
charged in the murder of an Il-year-old girl in Chicago.
Children who commit horrible crimes appear to act of their own will. Yet,
as legal proceedings in Jonesboro showed, the one boy who was able to address
the court couldn’t begin to explain his acts, though he tried to apologize.
There may have been a motive -- youthful jealousy and resentment. But a deeper
question remains: why did these boys and others in similar trouble apparently
lack any inner, moral restraint That question echoes for the
accused in Chicago, young as they are. They wanted the girl’s bicycle, a selfish
impulse common enough among kids. Redemption is a practical
necessity. How can value be restored to young lives distorted by acts of
violence The boys in Jonesboro and in Chicago will be confined in institutions
for a relatively short time. Despite horror at what was done, children are not
-- cannot be -- dealt with as adults, not if a person wants to consider himself
civilized. That’s why politicians cries for adult treatment of youthful
criminals ultimately miss the point. But the moral void that
invites violence has many sources. Family instability contributes. So does
economic stress. That void, however, can be filled. The work starts with
parents, who have to ask themselves whether they’re doing enough to give their
children a firm sense of right and wrong. Are they really monitoring their
activities and their developing processes of thought Schools,
too, have a role in building character. So do youth organizations. So do law
enforcement agencies, which can do more to inform the young about laws, their
meaning, and their observance. The goal, ultimately, is to allow
all children a normal passage from childhood to adulthood, so that tragic gaps
in moral judgment are less likely to occur. The relative few who fill such gaps
with acts of violence hint at ninny others who don’t go that far, but who lack
the moral foundations childhood should provide -- and which progressive human
society relies on. What does the writer cite as the sources of moral void