Of the horror of young,uncouth anger

 

 

l A 17-year-old class 12 student in a Government school in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh shot his school principal dead when he was admonished for coming late to the school. The boy fled from the spot, but was nabbed near Uttar Pradesh border with a country-made pistol in his possession. THERE is actually no need to say anything upon reading the horror-filled news item. Anybody would get speechless upon imagining what must have happened at that fateful moment. But there is little doubt that everybody would think first of the youngsters -- adolescents in particular -- in the family would wonder if the young anger could be so uncouth. But then, several aspects of the situation shout out for attention, one of them being the new social trend of allowing young people to get exposed to material that instigates -- or at least appeals to -- baser instincts of the consumers. Such material is very easily available in an uncontrolled manner.

 

All the persons has to do is to pick up his or her mobile smart-phone and ask for whatever he or she wishes -- crime-thrillers, pornography, perversion of any and every kind. Naturally, with such instigations cheaply and easily available, young heads and hearts are the best material to go wayward. When a young head is filled with such criminal ideas, then the overall conduct gets affected in the most perverse manner. That was what seemed to have happened in the case of the Dhamora Government School in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. The most unfortunate part is that the larger society is yet to wake up to the danger involved in allowing an uncontrolled use of gadgets to seek absolute filth that can convert any sane person into a highly perverse individual. In most families in the larger Indian society, young heads and hearts are never guided strongly to stop touching gadgets that serve dirty material to the user and seeker. Psychologists have stated on countless occasions that watching filthy material day in and day out can make an impressionable young mind constantly irritable and in that condition, the young person may become all the more edgy if confronted with moral choices -- of right or wrong conduct, of good or bad habits, of acceptable or undesirable company ... ! The best way is for the larger society to load the Government down with pressure to ban any such material from every possible platform including print.

 

In fact, there also is a need to restrict the use of such platform by young, impressionable minds. And the best way to achieving that goal is to impose strict restrictions on usage by youngsters. This is certainly possible -- since many a family has made that possible. Many schools, too, do not allow usage of smart phones for their kids. But those who spoil their kids with indulgences prove to be actual culprits. Of course, no family would like to admit that its youngsters are doing something wrong or undesirable. “Come on, everybody uses phones these days, even kids of primary sections”, said a friend whose grand-children appear to have had no restriction whatsoever on the use of phone. The loud-thinker must confess that he found those two kids extremely ill-disciplined and edgy all the time. But then, there are families with their heads and hearts in right places.

 

Those people put appropriate restrictions or discipline on their youngsters and ensure that those are properly followed. Unfortunately, such families are only rarely found. In most families, the youngsters do not seem to have any restrictions of the overuse or abuse of cell phones. Such looseness leads to youngsters getting edgy and trigger-happy, so to say -- like the Chhatarpur guy of just 17 years of age. The case must rest here -- leaving it to the right judgement of the people of the larger society. PS: Readers’ Responses to this are expected -- in order to promote a public discussion on the issue.