The Making Of A Gang Member Pt. 2

Yesterday I started to write about what can make a boy or girl into a gang member. The first point I elaborated on was about absentee fathers. Fathers provide guidance to children, and give them their idea of what a man should be like.

The second reason that children enter gangs is because a family member or members are already in gangs. Young children are impressionable, and may think of that lifestyle as being exciting. The fact that the one who is the gang member may have money, clothes, a big house and car may entice them into that world. Especially if the child and his family are poor.  But they do not see the dangers that may be involved in this life. 

Someone told me about a little child whose mother taught him to steal. Because he was a small child, she was able to push him through windows so he could steal what was inside. The older he got, he continued to steal from other people in the area. 

One thing that I've found out about most gang members is that a lot of them are illiterate. Some leave school early, and have trouble reading. When that happens, it seem to affect the self-esteem of the child or young person. They try to hide these feelings of inadequacy by being defiant, rebelling against the rules.  I remembered  one evening as I walked to my house, I overhead some young men sitting by the roadside dissing their teachers. They seemed to think that if they didn't do their homework or pay attention to their teacher, that they were 'getting back at them.' I had to inform these young men that in fact, they would only be huritng themselves, and that the teachers would be paid at the end of the month, even if these boys chose to study or not. 

But there are exceptions to the rule. Some gang members are exceptionally bright. These days some gang members are computer literate, and go to business school so that they can invest their drug money better, and help run he gang more as a business.  I consider that a big shame, because these brilliant children can use their abilities to earn an excellent and LEGAL living rather than getting into criminal activity. These gang members are usually from middle-class and upper-class homes. 

Tomorrow I will continue on this topic.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)