Is it just a stunt?

They beat up a schoolmate.

“He was provoked,” say the parents. And so, the bullies are born

They steal from the supermarket.

“Well yes, a kid,” say the parents. And so, thieves are born.

They smash cars in street races

“Who didn’t do it when they were young,” say the parents. And so, road hazards are born

They abuse young girls to liven up a New Year’s Eve party.

“But no, they just tried to take it further, she was into it. She’s being smart now,” say the parents. And thus are born men who are violent and disrespectful towards the opposite sex.

They cause fatal traffic accidents for a stupid challenge and social media fame.

‘It was just a stunt,’ say the parents. This is how killers are born.

My father argues, at times threateningly, that an apple tree cannot grow from a pear tree. That if the roots are healthy, the plant will grow straight. It may struggle, it may go through storms or droughts, but if the soil and the roots are good, it will thrive.

The problem in what you read these days, in my opinion, is the roots. But not only that.

I think it is also the speed. Not so much that of the means, but that of the social media society, in which you want everything, right away and a lot. Perhaps too much.

Sponsors, money, notoriety…all for a video of a few seconds.

Naively, I asked myself: ‘Would I have had the money at 20 years old to rent such a car?’

Probably not. “But if I had asked my parents, would they have given it to me?” Definitely not.

Apart from the fact that I (and I think many of my generation) didn’t even know where to go to rent a car when I was 20. But it wouldn’t have even occurred to us. Why? Because we were also bored. Because for us notoriety was getting a handwritten note from the prettiest boy or girl in school. 

Not that there weren’t status symbols even then, for goodness sake. But we knew they were myths, unattainable. And they stayed there. And you know what? We were fine with that. Because we looked at them, admired them, and dreamed a little, but then we lived in our own simple, real world.

Where one parent did not expect us to give them a Ferrari ride. A parent expected us to do well in school and spend the summer in a lively, yet relaxed manner. 

Other times? True. Everything has changed now. Everything except the role of the family.  The family has to imprint, now as then.

The family lays the foundation, prepares the tracks on which the train of life will run. We then make the path, it is true. But if we are not explained right from the start what is right and what is wrong; what education, respect and kindness are, our tracks will hardly run parallel. It is also essential to make sure that we understand how important it is to take responsibility: I did wrong, I must pay.

That’s the problem: all this is missing in the speed society.

“And you think you have to want more than you need. Until you have it all you won’t be free” Eddie Vedder

By Cinzia Costi

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