Kamloops Boy Demonstrates Societal Cluelessness
ByAdolescent Assault is never a good thing in my book. But then again, I’ve learned to read things according to a different Book. I was pleased and troubled to read a recent article from Kamloops’ The Daily News about a drunk and disorderly teen, a kind hearted bus driver, and courageous strangers who endured this boy’s obstinacy. You can read the article for yourself here:
At some point we’ve got to reintroduce the ancient and timeless truths of God, Sin, and Salvation back into our futile thinking and worthless educational systems if we are ever going to leave our city, this province, and the country of Canada as a whole to the next generation. I believe that Canada is an amazing place with beautiful scenery, amazingly rich and ample resources, and great adventure. This small corner of God’s world deserves to be entrusted to a generation that will cherish it and protect it, and leave it to a distant generation that we may never meet. But we’ll never get from here to where our grandkids are if we don’t start evaluating the world around us through a different perspective.
Going back to the article: the bus driver was generous and kind, and he offered a drunken boy a ride home. This must surely violate certain rules put in place by the Kamloops Public Transit Authority. But the bus driver knew that those rules served a higher purpose: the service of the city. So he did what was right- he offered to serve the people of this city through the offer of a free ride to a drunken boy. This is the proverbial good Samaritan before our very eyes. The passengers who stepped in to restrain the boy are also heroes. There is much to commend after reading this article.
Time for a transition from positive to negative. At this point other bloggers may begin their critique of the boy this way: “Unfortunately, the boy harassed the bus passengers…” Unfortunately. This is the impression one also gets from reading the article: a sad and unfortunate young boy who has turned wild on us. How unfortunate that so many are so clueless about the real nature of public intoxication and drug abuse. Ours is a culture that is inebriated on a number of different intoxicating idols -alcohol being only one of them. Society as a whole is rushing after things that will not in the long term profit any of us.
Take the credit crisis that is driving a world-wide recession- is this not a classic example of individuals pursuing selfish interests apart from reality? Is this not the same escapism that the boy is guilty of? The boy is dissatisfied with life, so he gets drunk. In his drunkenness he behaves in a disorderly and criminal manner that threatens the well-being of others. Now look at the economy credit crisis. Hundreds of tons of goods made by real people with real jobs and real families to feed are moved around from store to consumers with nothing more than a credit card I-O-U. This refusal to deal with the reality that there is no money to pay for such things infects the bureaucracy of the government and subsequently the US housing market, and eventually a world wide-recession breaks out and thousands are left without jobs and no way to feed their family. Greed and credit-card escapism is not much different than selfish drunkenness. There needs to be a reintroduction of God, sin, and salvation into our society if we are going to ever turn the tide of these types of incidents and prevent them from even happening. The only difference between the boy and our debt-spending society as a whole is that the boy has been caught in the nick of time and no one has been seriously hurt yet.
The defense lawyer stated that this was a “good kid.” A good kid who beats up a bus driver and harasses passengers? I’m not sure how you define good, but that isn’t my definition of ’good.’ This protest on the part of the lawyer illustrates the inebriation of our culture to various intoxicating idols: success, fame, fortune, and various other escapes from the reality in which we live. I’m sure the defense lawyer is just trying to do his job which is to set the boy free. Perhaps this public display of duty will win him more clients in the future. However, in the pursuit of his work, the defense lawyer may not be doing the troubled teen any favors. The lawyer could learn a thing or two from the bus driver and set rules aside in favor of principles.
The title of the article labels the incident this way: “Teen gone wild…” The teen is not nearly as wild as many would like to believe, and our society is not nearly as tame and domicile as many hope.
