When I was a teenager, some of the things we did “just for fun” were pretty typical. I won’t go into details but it usually consisted of activities my parents wouldn’t have approved of.
However, it never involved hurting someone.
So it’s very hard for me to understand how brutally beating someone is “fun.” That was the reason six teenagers in Pennsylvania were arrested last week. They attacked a 48-year-old woman who was sitting on her stoop “just for fun.”
Imagine being the one to ask them why they did it. Not because they were high on drugs. Not because they robbed her.
I’m not saying these would be “valid” reasons to do something so horrendous. But at least it would somehow make more sense then saying “We did it for fun.”
How is it fun to inflict pain on someone else? How can there be such a lack of empathy?
But then these 16 and 17-year-old girls took it a step further and posted the beating on Facebook. Really? They were that proud of what they did?
As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, the poor victim was described as mentally challenged. How do you live with yourself after committing such an atrocious attack against another human being?
Violence seems to be something that teens are becoming more and more desensitized to. I remember when I was younger, how horrifying it would be to see a murder story on the news. Today’s teens don’t blink twice.
Teenagers can get a really bad rap for stories like this one. I know there are many good ones out there.
I am sure that most teens wouldn’t think beating someone is fun. But it’s still very disheartening to hear of a story like this.
There have been other stories in the past, where teens have committed a violent act because they were “bored.” Could it be that technology has played a role? It’s something to think about.
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Photo by bopuc in Flickr