Generations Lost: And something to do about it
Posted this in response to a story by Greg Livadas in today's Democrat and
Chronicle regarding Rochester's 2006 homicides and the victims' families'
experience. The paper is doing an excellent series on violence in the city,
starting with Sunday's detailed assessment by Patrick
Flanigan of the statistics for the year.
I live in one of Rochester's crime "hot spots."
Yesterday afternoon I was hanging out with neighborhood kids, letting them play
with my yard toys as I sometimes do.
At one point I was talking to a 7-year-old who lives down the street. He asked me if I am “the police.” He said people had seen me with the police.
I said no, I am not the police, but I have friends who are. I explained about PAC-TAC . I said we just want to keep everybody safe. We don’t want anybody to get shot.
His response... when he gets mad he wishes he had a gun to shoot somebody. When I asked him how he would feel if someone shot a friend just because he was mad at him, he said well he'd get a gun and go shoot the other guy.
This is the heart of the matter — kids who can’t think of a better way to resolve their anger or their differences other than shooting someone. Who then grow up into adults who think the same way. Or never make it to adulthood because they got shot. Or end up in jail because they shot somebody.
Generations lost.
Grieve we must for now. But ultimately, let us all take that grief and channel it into creative solutions.
Please come to one or more of the remaining forums sponsored by the Coalition for Community Standards (Faith Community Alliance, Baptist Ministers Alliance, Greater Rochester Community of Churches) to join with others in this effort.
Thursday January 11, 7-9 p.m.
Lake Avenue Baptist Church
57 Ambrose St.
(Three blocks north of Lyell, off of Lake.)
Thursday January 25, 7-9 p.m.
Third Presbyterian
4 Meigs St. (Intersection East Ave. and Meigs)
Saturday February 10, 1-3 p.m.
Genesee Baptist Church
149 Brooks Ave. (across from Millbank & Brooks,
three blocks from Genesee St.)
Additional forums in schools and other locations are in the planning stage.
If you have questions, please contact:
The Rev. Roy Hedman
Antioch Baptist Church
Phone: 317- 5849
or
Greater Rochester Community of Churches
Phone: 254-2570
Or go to the GRCC website at:
http://www.grcc.org
****
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
(Emily Dickinson)
At one point I was talking to a 7-year-old who lives down the street. He asked me if I am “the police.” He said people had seen me with the police.
I said no, I am not the police, but I have friends who are. I explained about PAC-TAC . I said we just want to keep everybody safe. We don’t want anybody to get shot.
His response... when he gets mad he wishes he had a gun to shoot somebody. When I asked him how he would feel if someone shot a friend just because he was mad at him, he said well he'd get a gun and go shoot the other guy.
This is the heart of the matter — kids who can’t think of a better way to resolve their anger or their differences other than shooting someone. Who then grow up into adults who think the same way. Or never make it to adulthood because they got shot. Or end up in jail because they shot somebody.
Generations lost.
Grieve we must for now. But ultimately, let us all take that grief and channel it into creative solutions.
Please come to one or more of the remaining forums sponsored by the Coalition for Community Standards (Faith Community Alliance, Baptist Ministers Alliance, Greater Rochester Community of Churches) to join with others in this effort.
Thursday January 11, 7-9 p.m.
Lake Avenue Baptist Church
57 Ambrose St.
(Three blocks north of Lyell, off of Lake.)
Thursday January 25, 7-9 p.m.
Third Presbyterian
4 Meigs St. (Intersection East Ave. and Meigs)
Saturday February 10, 1-3 p.m.
Genesee Baptist Church
149 Brooks Ave. (across from Millbank & Brooks,
three blocks from Genesee St.)
Additional forums in schools and other locations are in the planning stage.
If you have questions, please contact:
The Rev. Roy Hedman
Antioch Baptist Church
Phone: 317- 5849
or
Greater Rochester Community of Churches
Phone: 254-2570
Or go to the GRCC website at:
http://www.grcc.org
****
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
(Emily Dickinson)
Posted: Mon - January 8, 2007 at 03:01 PM
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My name is Georgia NeSmith. "Random Acts of Love" is my weblog, but I have numerous other websites you can link to through this blog. "Random Acts of Love" began in February, 2004, and I have been posting to it fairly steadily ever since, although there are a few months when illness and other issues have kept me away. I write about nearly everything under the sun. I also do a lot of photography and digital art and I teach journalism online. Recently I've also started posting videos to YouTube.
When I am not doing that, I am trouble-shooting Mac computer issues. Oh, yeah. I also do a lot of community activism. (Can anyone say ADD? I call it AEG -- "attention excess gift.")
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Quotes
"The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while."
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM