Knock It Off!

Knock It Off! - Round One. Bam! One punch, and down goes the man or woman. If the setting was a boxing ring, one could cheer about a clean one- strike knock- out and celebrate the victor. Unfortunately, the circumstances could not be any more different. There's no pairing up against each other, and there's certainly no referee to be found either. In fact, reality is quite the opposite with a bunch of teens randomly picking someone, -lately even women- ambushing their latest victims and aiming at knocking them out with a single blow to the head or face. With every new day more incidents are surfacing, well documented thanks to the quickly increasing amount of surveillance and closed- circuit cameras in public places. Those squads of thugs are believed to be primarily teenagers and young folks who are used to roaming the streets and who out of boredom came up with the idea of playing a new sinister and heinous game called "The Knock- Out Game". So, basically anyone walking alone is now at risk of being attacked from the back by such a group of demented adolescents who are apparently out to seek some kind of sick thrill and who do not hesitate hurting strangers. Some of the victims have suffered from grave injuries to the face and brain, others have even died. We, as a society, have to get these morons off the streets faster than one can say Stop and make sure these useless creatures are put to work, hard physical community work, to kill both their boredom and their destructive imaginative powers. And may I ask you, where the great parents to all those rotten jerks are when they are needed the most? Their hideous offspring needs to be detained and trialled like grown- ups, and you know what, I really like the proposal of one of NY's local politicians to raise the prison sentence to 25 years for this kind of crime. What an incredibly satanic act of cowardice this is! No words can express the utter disgust I sense with regard to collective assaults just like the most recent ones. At times I really wonder if mankind is de- evolving, regressing and de- sensitizing. What on earth makes anyone who lives in modern society crave inflicting harm on innocent people on such unequal grounds? Not enough, who feels driven to step in and act like a copy cat? In my opinion, we all have clearly been failing as parents, educators, fellow men and women, and especially as politicians and legal executives. Due to political decisions that are mostly self- centered, one- sided, greedy and counter- productive, those who represent the level of carrying out all those plans, decisions and laws can't but fail miserably within their twisted molds. Consequently, no matter how much effort, money and other means are invested in improvements, fixes and reforms, the success will remain absent. On the contrary, the harder we try to correct the course, the more likely we are to attract the exact opposite. Respecting each and every religion that there is on our planet, I strongly urge this country in particular to return to a more holistic approach to religious traditions, festivities, prayers and honest devotion to the superior being. Having no more religious education and no more guidance will ultimately result in total anarchy. To my understanding, compassion, respect and love are taught by all religions alike, so please gather in peaceful intention and lead your kids and youth back into your churches, mosques, temples, etc., where they, too, belong. Some think quite radically and suggest that the punishment should fit the crime according to what it says in the bible: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. As long as correctional facilities here continue to act like country clubs behind bars for criminals, and the incentive to get in there is in fact much greater than staying out of it, none of them will ever seriously want to change. Why would they after all? - What's your take on that? I would love to hear your opinion.