Love And Respect

Fourteen-year-old shot his sixteen-year-old brother to death and then killed himself.

Most of us must remember how we loved our siblings when we were growing up. A few may have had a little different experience. But, when you hear such news as a child murdered his brother “over sharing clothes,” you wonder how bad some others must have had it. Children always have their little quarrels in their home environments. Parents are always there likewise to correct and set things back on course.  How could it get so bad for a child to kill his brother and himself?

When you look at the photo of the little boy killer, he appears so nice and innocent, with a broad smile and his teeth grinned, that you could count them, except for a couple of missing ones. He must have had that picture from a few years earlier, in church shirt, tie, and a graduation cap that makes him look like a boy scout. You have to love him, in the picture; you may even wish that he could have been your own little boy. If you did not know, you would have never imagined that a killer lived inside him.

 

He killed his brother “over sharing clothes.” They must have been poor. Perhaps the family did not have enough for each boy to have his own sets of clothing. It is sad. Poverty would do that. But, the big question remains. How a little fourteen-year-old has arrived to muster so much anger and gain possession of a firearm to commit this sordid deed? 

The Bible exhorts us to raise the children in the right path.

Most of us consider our children precious. We love them; we take care of them; and we teach them to do the same to others. That is how most of us have arrived to live in mutual respect with each other and keep our society in check. This young man obviously did not learn how to love, to respect, to share, and to live together. He killed his brother over clothes and then killed himself. Many of us must remember when we had such bad days that even led into physical fights with our siblings. We kicked; we punched; we bit; we screamed; but, we never had the intention to cause permanent damage. The anger of this little boy became so bad he developed a desire to kill. Yet, the worst about it, he gained access to fire power!

Many children in our ghettos these days are little bandits. Being poor, raise by parents with little or no education, and shut out from the better prospect of life, they resort to anger and violence. They are walking around, as you may say, like little adults. They are tough, mean, and ready to cause trouble. Their home environments are conflict zones. Nobody has control. Some are literally war zones. No wonder that a fourteen-year-old could acquire a gun and destroy himself and his brother. It is sad. It could have turned out very differently away from the grips of poverty with more educated and better informed parents. And, the gun? Anybody could always get one for evil intent – even a fourteen-year-old.

If this young man did not have a gun, it is certain the damage would have been far less. I guess. We could simply apply more efforts to show the kids love, respect, and limitation to fire power. 

By E.C. GRANMOUN
E.C. Granmoun is the author of "The Social Worker" ebook on amazon.com
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