Think Pennsylvania

"Education will never be as expensive as ignorance."
- Anonymous

I must veer away from my usual practice and express this clearly as my personal opinion.

Most, if not all, of the ills of today, both personal and social (community, national, international) would be greatly reduced and many would disappear altogether if a reasonable level of social teaching were to take place in every country.

Terrorism, for example, is on the minds of many people. Yet the methods practised by so-called terrorists would be clearly seen as anti-social if the values of the majority of people were taught to every child.

Terrorism happens in the United States every day, for example, but it may be called gang warfare, mob murder or a psycho on the loose. They dress differently from the terrorists who struck the World Trade Centers and who bomb restaurants in Israel or mosques in Iraq.

These are not moral values in the sense of being related to a religion. These are widely held and respected human values. There is no society, tribe or cult in the world today that abides by mass murder, as in the habit of the terrorists. We can include the Hutus of Rwanda in that, as even they would rather put their genocidal past behind them and live in peace and harmony with their Tutsi neighbours.

Every terrorist of today is taught, thoroughly and meticulously, the reasons why suicide bombing is necessary, worthwhile, an act of courage and heroism that is supported by God. The lessons taught to a majority of children, that murder is wrong and mass murder is even more wrong, does not get imprinted on the brains of suicide bombers because the lessons are not taught to them thoroughly.

This is not rocket science. It's human nature.

Would you blow yourself up and kill a bunch of innocent and unarmed strangers in the process? For most people, the answer would be no. For the remainder, the lessons that you learned were not taught to them thoroughly enough.

What we want our children to be when they grow up, we must teach them as children. If we want all adults to observe the same aversion to anti-social behaviours, we must teach every child the same lessons.

There is nothing to disagree with here. Teaching otherwise--as is done today in terrorist cells--is a crminal act in every country in the world.

The bad guys are doing what the rest of us are shy about doing, teaching young people. They have no competition from society as a whole, other than the incompetent police and military who are not trained to cope with any situation involving children or non-conventional crime.

In the United States today, one citizen in ten is behind bars. The lessons are not being taught. While the numbers are lower in other countries, the percentage of incarcerated people in most western countries is far too high.

Teach the children. Teach every one. Teach even those who don't want to pay attention. The message will get through to them.

Your life or the life of your child may depend on it.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to spread the word before it's too late for everyone.
Learn more at http://billallin.com