This used to be such a sleepy, safe area. No one locked their doors at night. Or during the day either for that matter. The Mom & Pop stores left merchandise sitting on the walkway in front of their stores overnight without any worry at all that they’d be stolen or vandalized. The “big local news” would be about car accidents or which girls basketball team won the tournament. The local crime page would be about someone complaining that a cow was running loose and had gotten tangled up in a laundry line full of clean clothes.
Now it seems that “big city crime” is moving outwards and our sleepy little towns are becoming a safe haven for gangs and illegal drugs. Our area used to have its share of alcoholics and folks that were suffering from medication addictions, but now we are starting to see more people who are suffering from recreational drug addiction too.
Earlier today I was discussing this subject with my neighbor, who told me that his grandson was just released from a drug treatment program. He had been sent to a drug treatment center after his parents caught him fencing some of his mother’s nice jewelry to use the money to buy drugs. I just cannot even imagine how horrible a feeling that would be; to discover that your own child was stealing your jewelry and fencing it to buy drugs! How sad. I hope that the program got him straightened out!
I’m rather confused. I was just reading an article on MSNnbc’s website that the California’s courts have struck down a law that was designed to prevent the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The reason I’m confused is that I thought that there was already a rating system in place that told stores/vendors to NOT sell video games that are rated for “Mature” audiences. Anyway, the courts ruled that it was up to the parents to keep their kids from playing violent games, not up to the stores. This does not make a lot of sense to me. If kids are not allowed to go to “X” rated movies, then they should not be allowed to buy or rent “Mature” rated video games! Although I agree that parents need to guide their children, the sad fact is that many times children will “sneak behind the parent’s back” to get things that they really want. I think that a law preventing minors from buying or renting “Mature” games is very appropriate!
My grandparents always said that “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” When I was really young I didn’t understand what that meant, and I thought that they were crazy. I guess that is an old adage that time has proven right time and time again. When people don’t have anything to do, they tend to look for something to do, and sometimes that “thing” is not a good thing.
There are not a lot of activities in this area to keep teenagers and young adults entertained in a healthy manner. Drug abuse and alcoholism run rampant in this area. People are just so bored that they turn to drugs, booze, and sex to keep themselves entertained. If it weren’t for easy access to birth control, we’d have a really high rate of teenage pregnancies, of that I am sure! What’s really sad is that so many of these people become addicted and end up having to seek help through an alcohol rehabilitation center.
Many of them, however, wait until their doctors tell them that they have to quit drinking because it is having a negative effect on their health; for example liver damage is a common side effect of alcoholism. Or they wait until they’ve gotten married and had children and then lose their loved ones because their addiction has turned them into abusive partners and parents. Alcohol rehabilitation is one vital business service that I wish was not necessary, but really glad that it exists! I think that with the economy turning sour, we will need these services even more than before!