Our world is a scary place. Anyone who denies that is in denial. All you have to do is watch the news to know that there is really no safe place to be any more. Our country has been infiltrated by terrorism & even managed to raise its own terrorists. What makes a terrorist whether home grown or from afar?
As I listen to the motivation of young people leaving their homes to join terrorist groups and study why people become bullies, the most common thread I can find is lack of belonging. I believe Dr James Dobson was on to this years ago when he said the reason young people suffer from peer pressure, anorexia, suicide, & all sorts of issues is because they lack self esteem.
Let's think about this for a minute. Not belonging ='s low self esteem. Can low self esteem be so powerful that it could cause a young man to leave his home just for a sense of belonging. Could lack of self esteem be what caused Dylan Clebold & Eric Harris to cause a bloody massacre in their Columbine High School?
What caused people to sign on for committing their own suicide as they crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11? What causes serial killers to commit atrocities as they take people down, usually 1 child at a time, or 1 woman at a time. How is it that some people grow up with so little sense of value for life, not only the life of others' but their own?
Perhaps they never felt valued as children. That is one possibility but some of the young men who left their families in Brussels to join terrorists left good homes with caring parents. In fact, to their parents' knowledge, they showed no signs of distress prior to their leaving. Their families were left in shock with utter despair.
In addition to these observations, I have one last thought or possibility. It's accountability. Teens need accountability. They need help processing our world. If they didn't grow up in war torn places or weren't kidnapped into violence at young ages, if they came from a loving home, if their parents had no idea they were up to something unspeakable, what's left to conclude? ACCOUNTABILITY.
Keep tabs on your children. Spend time with them. Quantity matters as well as quality. Move your focus from your technology, stop multi tasking, & pay attention to your child. If both the parent & the child can't agree on it, the child can't wear it. Who is your child with? Where is your child? How much access does your child have to technology? When is the last time you snooped? Have you checked their text messages lately? Have you given your child & friends a ride to an event? What is the conversation you heard? Are you listening?
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