Whatever Happened to the Fear of Consequences

I am relaxing in my home watching a little TV. I am flipping through the channels looking for something interesting. I pass by this one channel where a see a teenage girl smacking another in the head. As I watch further, I find it was a program called "Teenagers Gone Wild" on one of the news networks (I don't recall which). Apparently this act of violence I saw was all part of some kind of high school hazing ritual. Now this was no mere paddling or gold-fish swallowing (Yes, I know I am dating myself) but real knockamutha out kind of stuff. As I watched the show, I became more incensed at the fact that not only were these grown a** children (who are old enough to know better) beating on others for no apparent reason but had the audacity and ignorance to tape it. Its as if they had no forethought or fear of the consequences of their actions. Apparently, they are not alone. Across the internet, you can find as many as you want of these so-called "beatdown videos". Some are staged. Many are not. Its very apparent these children were not taught that there are AND should be consequences to their actions. In my opinion, they are under the mistaken impression that they can do anything they want in this life and nothing will and/or should happen to them.

One thing my parents taught me at a very early age was that there are consequences to all my actions. Some may not be readily apparent but always there. In many cases, I had a specific consequence applied to whatever body part was closest to it. In today's so-called kinder, gentler world, this is looked upon as a negative. I don't intend to get into the differences between abuse and corporal punishment in this particular blog. That's a blog subject unto itself. But suffice it to say, my kids are very personally aware of consequences. Not only that but they understand why it is necessary. My wife and I taught them about self-respect and respect for others. "Do unto others . . ." Violence is a means of self-defense only. Its not a way to settle disputes. Its not away to get your point across. We stand behind our children's right to defend themselves but they better damn well not be the initiator.

Why have teenagers come to this? Are their lives so cushy that they need something to quench some kind of primal urge? Is it some kind of deep seated need to be popular at all costs? Starving for attention so bad that exposing themselves to possible incarceration doesn't seem like a bad tradeoff? Where are the parents in all of this? Why don't their kids feel a sense of responsibility for their actions? Too many parents today would rather be considered a friend to their teenager rather than a controlling parent. They want to be considered cool. They would rather make excuses for their kids' bad behavior than help them see what they did wrong. And that, is just plain wrong.