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“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide”

This country, and especially London, is currently rife with talk about gang culture and youth crime. Every week, if not more frequently, there is a news item about a gang-related stabbing or about school children being murdered by other school children.

Maybe I am naïve, or more likely I was fortunate enough to go to a ‘good’ school, but when I was growing up the biggest things to worry me were my homework, exams and my current best friend, not avoiding and living in fear of other people.

Granted, a lot of what is routinely reported these days has always been going on and a lot of the hype surrounding these social problems can be attributed to both the Government and media jumping on a band wagon… but despite this it is truly sad to see so much violence and anger about – and perpetrated by such young folk.

It’s also worrying when you get to an age that the prospect of raising a family is not far off the horizon (okay so a matter of some years for me but still the foreseeable future) and you seriously start thinking about the kind of world into which you might be bringing another human life. I know you cannot think in this manner or else we would all have stopped procreating a long time ago. I also know that Baz Luhrmann would suggest that we “don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum”.

He may have a point but if some of that worry can be turned into action then perhaps there is something that can be done? The Government recently outlined plans to protect those coming forward to inform on gangs and it is also asking schools to look out for signs that pupils are being drawn into gang membership, so ostensibly they are trying to tackle the problem. However the problem, it is commonly suggested, stems from deeper issues such as poverty, racism and family dysfunction. Perhaps it is these that we ALL should be trying to fix?

So enough of my pessimism… Pessimism never won any battle

Description
“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide”

This country, and especially London, is currently rife with talk about gang culture and youth crime. Every week, if not more frequently, there is a news item about a gang-related stabbing or about school children being murdered by other school children.

Maybe I am naïve, or more likely I was fortunate enough to go to a ‘good’ school, but when I was growing up the biggest things to worry me were my homework, exams and my current best friend, not avoiding and living in fear of other people.

Granted, a lot of what is routinely reported these days has always been going on and a lot of the hype surrounding these social problems can be attributed to both the Government and media jumping on a band wagon… but despite this it is truly sad to see so much violence and anger about – and perpetrated by such young folk.

It’s also worrying when you get to an age that the prospect of raising a family is not far off the horizon (okay so a matter of some years for me but still the foreseeable future) and you seriously start thinking about the kind of world into which you might be bringing another human life. I know you cannot think in this manner or else we would all have stopped procreating a long time ago. I also know that Baz Luhrmann would suggest that we “don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum”.

He may have a point but if some of that worry can be turned into action then perhaps there is something that can be done? The Government recently outlined plans to protect those coming forward to inform on gangs and it is also asking schools to look out for signs that pupils are being drawn into gang membership, so ostensibly they are trying to tackle the problem. However the problem, it is commonly suggested, stems from deeper issues such as poverty, racism and family dysfunction. Perhaps it is these that we ALL should be trying to fix?

So enough of my pessimism… Pessimism never won any battle