As is often the case in our society when something is going wrong, we like to blame a certain area of life that is causing problems in another area, so when it comes to the subject "Are today's youth lacking compassion?" its an area that at this present time is causing some concern, more so now with the increase of gun/drug related especially over here in England which has certainly increased in my life time.

With so many pressures on the youths of today and believe me I am not making an excuse for them, lets face it, I was once a youth and I would like to think I showed compassion and had certain values in my life instilled to me by my parents, there is no end of what is expected of a youth today with all our high powered, high tech lifestyle.

As has always been, in our culture, there will always be the achievers and the non achievers and I sometimes feel that whichever category you happen to be in, will generate how the youth's mind will work, i.e. in putting their brain to good use rather than exposing themselves to deeds of temptation.

The effect of the global warming has raised concerns in many people and I think that a lot of kids nowadays realize that they do have to protect themselves against what could be a catastrophic end to the human race. I digress I know but compassion is for all mankind and not just for the close members of the neighborhood.

I was walking home the other day and noticed some teenagers tormenting the life out of a bird who had obviously been hit by a car and was very shocked and they had started to kick the bird around like a football, I was completely and utterly enraged by this and stepped in to stop the show, and was met by a barrage of abuse by one youth. To my surprise though one of the other youths then turned to me and said "sorry" and walked away, leaving all his fellow tormentors with me (there were 5) and a passerby had now stepped in (a guy) and picked the bird up, who was very nearly dead and walked off. I just said, that although pigeons are a nuisance, there was no need for such incredible torture (having already been met with the impact of car) it was now suffering for absolutely no reason whatsoever, other than to keep them amused in a shameful act of cruelty. Where was their compassion? Another youth piped up and said that the "bird was nearly dead anyway" and I replied "so that gave you the right to kick it into extinction". There are more humane ways of dealing with nearly dead animals rather than kicking them to death. "What would your mother say"? The boy then looked as if he was going to burst into tears and mumbled an apology.

I walked away feeling a bit shaky myself, having handled a handful of youths but felt that the episode made them think and I would like to think that possibly their actions in the future will revert back to what happened that day and hopefully not result in some poor defenseless creature being tortured for absolutely no reason.

No I don't think youths of today are lacking compassion, but I do feel that there actions should be more thoughtfully considered. It's all a learning curve as we get older and everything in life we do, we have to take responsibility over our actions.

Learn more about this author, Holly Golightly.
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