I learned as a kid that things aren't always what they seemed to be. I've dived into waters that seemed deep but were shallow and swam in creeks that weren't as safe as they appeared. While in the Navy, I saw things on a radar screen that weren't really there. I once tracked a ship from 35 miles away as it eventually crossed our bow at 500 yards. But no one ever saw it, though it was broad daylight. It was a "ghost" ship sending back a radar echo that baffled all of us.
A Destroyer has sailed into our harbor and is wreaking havoc in our nation. It's called Crime.
We've tried to blame crime on: (1) social, physical and/or political environments; (2) lack of education; (3) joblessness; (4) injustice; (5) inequalities; (6) the lack of religious upbringing; and (7) psyiological defects, including genetic disorders.
I think those are the "ghosts" of crime. Those were false echos.
You see, if lack of education was a cause for one turning to crime, then we'd have to account for the tens of thousands, indeed, millions, of people throughout history in America and the world who never turned to crime, but who had very little education. Same thing for environment. The early American settlers lived in abject poverty. But it didn't turn them to crime. (Crime was comparatively low in our early history.) The slaves in America had most all of it heaped on them: bad environment, injustice, inequality, and bad politics. They even had the final insult heaped upon them from their owners and even the clergy who suggested they were genetically inferior.
But American slaves were better mannered, more civil, and less inclined to commit a crime than their white owners. They were,on the whole, by most historical accounts, a very civil, obedient and law abiding people. They were far better citizens than their educated, well fed owners.
Why?
You say fear? Fear of Massah?
Well, perhaps to a degree. Fear certainly is a motivator. And I do not think the average American criminal is much afraid of the law or society, today. Society is not their master. So I concede that fear will work, to a point. But only to a point. And it really wasn't fear that made the slaves into decent people.
I contend that it was more than fear that made the slaves of our history the way they were. The same things that motivated the early settlers to obey the law and has made millions of others in their wake obey the law, worked in them.
You see, those early settlers, the pioneers, the slaves and millions of others, were family oriented, first of all. They operated as a unit. They were not islands unto themselves. They needed each other to survive. They counted their friends as brothers and sisters-- as family. And to commit crime was to betray family. To be a criminal was to lose family and friends and to bring shame to the family. More, such actions (criminal) caused the loss of a contributor to the family's unity and its survival. In short, there was a moral conscience and at its core, was family.
In Gary, Indiana there once roamed a gang called "The Family." I knew a man who once belonged to it. We often talked and he'd tell me of his times on the hard, brutal streets. But what I found most fascinating was his talk of his "family." He talked of loyalty to the "family." And of respect to the leaders. They used some of the same principles that are the "glue" for real families: respect, rules, leadership, punishment and loyalty. And it worked.
Today, such values aren't taught in families. They are being taught in gangs, though. Gangs understand the need for belonging, for identification and pride of membership. But today's mom's and dads don't understand the need to instill that pride of family into their children and that sense of belonging. Loyalty to the family isn't instilled in today's children. Nor do today's parents understand the committment that must be made to create and maintain a family. They were failed and now they've failed their children.
And we're reaping the whirlwind.
Parents want to blame it on someTHING or someONE else. "Blame it on crime," they say. "It's the television! That's what it is," shouts a chorus of parents. Or, let's be generic and just "blame it on society." Ah, but please don't blame it on us, The parents.
Folks, family is supposed to be our posterity and their [our family] heritage— like it was to the pioneers, the settlers, the slaves, and millions of others.
Like I hope it is to you.
What are you doing to preserve your heritage?
The End
Copyright 1996
