By now you have likely seen and/or heard the story: a group of teenage girls beat a former friend severely enough to cause unconsciousness, damage to her vision and hearing, not to mention what I’m sure were plenty of scrapes and bruises. Inexplicably, they videotaped the incident for the purpose of posting it on the Internet.
The mother of one of the girls was interviewed by Matt Lauer this morning on NBC’s Today Show. Rather than express concern for the victim and condemn her child’s behavior, she excused and defended her daughter’s actions. According to this mother, law enforcement officials lied, blew the incident out of proportion and the victim had it coming because she said ugly things on MySpace.
I hurt for these young girls, especially for the victim of the beating. I hope she recovers from her injuries and is allowed to heal in peace. But I grieve as well for all of the children of parents who are more concerned about their own pride than their child’s moral fiber. Children whose parents are so clueless that they have no idea what is on their child’s MySpace page. And children who believe that violence is the best way to settle conflict.
Parents, we must wake up. Tune in. Get involved. Ask questions. Pull our heads out of — well, you know where. Or … end up on the Today Show.
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