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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Building Community A Challenge We Must All Help Meet

What went so haywire in the lives of two 13-year-olds that it could explain a $100,000-plus vandalism spree, rationalized by one of them as “something to do”?

The question has answers, if we’re willing to act on them. But if we truly want to understand the mayhem a week ago at Sacajawea Middle School, we also need to ask what has gone right in the lives of youngsters who, sometimes against stiff odds, spurn such misconduct. That question has answers, too.

All children need pretty much the same resources to provide stability, purpose, confidence and hope. They need relationships with caring adults to support and guide them. They need wholesome activities to fill their time and safe places to engage in them. They need good health. They need a solid education. And they need opportunities to use their skills on behalf of their community.

Not all youngsters enjoy all or even most of those assets. Fortunately, some are naturally resilient enough to survive on sheer constitutional strength. Others drift, neglected and unnoticed, down shadowy paths to trouble.

By the time they are trashing schools and churches - and worse - turning them around is an imposing job.

There are things communities can do to make up for the resources some children lack, but the time to do it begins even before birth (such as assuring adequate prenatal care for all pregnant women) and continues in every facet of community life.

Forget petty squabbles over whether it takes a village or a family to raise a child. It takes every resource we can muster. If some families are unable or unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities to their children, the rest of the community has a duty, and a self-interest, to help those families and those children.

Communities enraged by 13-year-old vandals must do more than demand harsh punishment. They must dedicate their greatest passion to the newborns and toddlers who may or may not collide with the criminal justice system some day, depending on what we do now.

Such communities should develop mentoring resources for children who need them and supportive networks for inexperienced parents. They should insist on structured youth programs, good health care and effective schools. They should model community service as an element of citizenship. And they should invest in those things, not because a statistical trend line proves their effectiveness, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Yes, some children still will cause serious trouble. But the more kids have society’s nurturing attention - before they misbehave - the more they will reward us with value rather than vandalism.

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