I am so saddened and angry this week that I am not sure where my blog is going!
I returned from my holiday to read and see about the senseless killing of Rhys Jones.
I am reduced to tears at this horror of just sending your boy out for a football match and him not coming home, the horror of the lack of responsibility of the community where the killers live, and indeed, the horror of society at large that we have allowed it all to happen.
At the other almost petty end of the spectrum is the disaster which is now Merseyrail, where people trying to do a job and get to work cannot do so because the trains have no wheels. I wonder who is going to accept responsibility for that.
Acting responsibly is of course part of growing up and the learning of life skills. I have been away spending some time in the USA where my daughter is studying for a year. At 19 she can legally drink in the UK but cannot drink in the States.
In Britain we are presently having a decision about underage drinking and whether we should equally put the minimum drinking age to 21. In the States they are having a debate about lowering the age back to 18. I would argue it does not matter what age limit you have but; it is the notion of responsibility and acting responsible that we have to do a Major in.
In many States in the United States you can drink at 21, own a gun at 16, drive a truck at 16 and join the army at 18. Some States have had to amend their laws so that young people leaving their country for Iraq can have an alcoholic drink to celebrate or commiserate. You have the bizarre situation that if you are in the army you can drink at 18 but otherwise it is 21. Clearly drink is available in the States for those who are under 21. They do not know how to use it or take it and abuse it. They do not know where to go for help. My daughter reports that Americans who drink underage really cannot handle it. They do not learn the responsibility at a young age and therefore the teenage years just drag on until their early 20s.
In the States they increased the drinking age to counteract an increase in drink driving. But, they left the age of driving at 16. It seems to me a more practical way forward would have been to increase the driving age but; of course in the States the car is king and that is impossible.
The legislators in the States are seriously looking to reduce the drinking age because they recognise that it is not doing their society any good in making it illegal – it just makes it more attractive. I would therefore urge all our legislators to think about other ways of improving the corporate responsibility of the state and individual responsibility rather than implementing more laws and which do not make being responsible more of a choice than an obligation.