The making of a gang member Pt. 1

Today is Valentine's Day. I wish all my blog readers "All my love and best wishes for Valentine's Day!"

On a day that is supposed to celebrate man's love towards his fellow men, I just heard a lot of gun shots in the stretch of roads that extends in the opposite direction from the one I live in. Since I've lived here (I was born in another district), my "neck of the woods" has been relatively free to walk in without fear of being robbed and shot at, and still is, for the most part. But the other "stretch" has become more and more violent, especially in the last 3 years. I remember while I was living in one of the other Caribbean countries, that it was the custom in many, if not all the districts, that if one side of the street is partial to one party (or gang), and the other side of the street  is partial to another party (or gang), a person living on one side of the street could not cross over to the other side of the street in case the person got killed. Or one gang from one district could not enter a gang territory in another district. At that time I used to think (rather proudly I must say), "PRAISE THE LORD, MY COUNTRY IS NOT LIKE THAT!" Well, now I can no longer boast, for my country is very quickly becoming the same way.

I've always used to wonder how a young boy (or girl) became involved in a gang. I've been observing a particular family for a long time,  and I have a friend who lives next door to a family whose 12-year old son is in a gang. From these two sources of information, I've made some conclusions. First, I believe that a father who is either at home physically but not emotionally, or a father that is absent from the home is one strong reason. A father is necessary to a child's development. It is from a father that a boy learns how to act in a manly fashion, and a girl learns to gauge all males according to how her father treats her. Both children learns  self-esteem and desperately needs the love of their father. When they do not or cannot get this from them, they will end up looking for love and guidance in the  wrong place. If a gang leader can give them guidance, material things, and a type of 'love' that seems to fill up a gaping hole in their heart, then they will eventually become gang members, and their parents will have lost the battle.

See the second part of this topic tomorrow.

"Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of their children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Malachi 4: 5 - 6 (KJV)