by Antares

Created on: January 11, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

I consider myself fortunate to be living in a village with a population of around 150. The thing about village life is that it's much easier to understand patterns of human behavior, because life is less cluttered than in a complex urban environment. You could say my village is a compact microcosm of the rest of the planet: what happens here, happens everywhere else, though on a much smaller scale.

My village is located between two rivers, amidst lush greenery surrounded by misty mountains. The air here is fresh and the water pure. Excellent fengshui, as the Chinese would say. In fact, life in this enchanting little village is as close to heaven on earth as it gets. Except that a few adolescent boys have been showing delinquent tendencies. Out of sheer boredom and an excess of energy, they break into houses and steal small items foodstuff, watches, handphones, even toothpaste and cosmetics. Several times, after they made off with my belongings, I have caught them and ordered them to return whatever they took. Each time, the kids have been relieved that I didn't appear too angry (since I didn't hit them, as their fathers would invariably do). I usually sit them down and lecture them for an hour or so, after which I offer them hot drinks and, occasionally, some food. Every time this happens, they apologise and shake my hand, and everything is peaceful again - at least for a few months!

These teenaged wannabe criminals all have one thing in common: fierce fathers who never show their sons any affection, and hardly ever give them any attention - because they have far too many kids and can barely manage with their meagre earnings as daily paid labourers. Senseless acts of delinquency are a perverse form of protest. Their criminal behavior stems from an urge to express displeasure at what they experience as an unfair and unjust world.

All "wrongdoing" ultimately has its source in the communication gap between Father and Son. This is particularly true in any patriarchal society wherein God is perceived as the Father, and the Father is perceived as the State, at least in its manifestation as Punisher of Wrongdoers. I have long studied the social factors that influence young people to tread a criminal path. In almost every instance, the youthful malefactor is someone with above average intelligence and courage. When he sees that the Father does not embody the ideals everyone preaches but rarely practises, he loses faith in Goodness itself, and therefore opts to do "bad."

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