Last week had been quite eventful in Denmark. There had been groups of ethnic youths going around Copenhagen and other parts of the country burning cars, schools and garbage containers. Though the real reason for what sparked the protest is not known, many believe that 2 of the main reasons are because of an incident earlier this month in Copenhagen in which a police officer allegedly assaulted an elderly Palestinian immigrant, as well as with the republishing of the Muhammed caricatures in the major Danish newspapers.
The Danish secret police force had uncovered a plan to kill one of the Danish caricature drawers. 3 men were arrested in connection to this, even though the whole saga of the initial printing of these caricatures started in 2005 and ended a few months later in 2006.
Anyway, I guess the revelation of the murder plot kinda pissed off the Danish media, so this time, a few of the major publications had decided to republish the drawings to show that Denmark still believes in free speech and will not bow down to the fear of murder / terrorist threats.
So yeah, it could be that both of these reasons combined, plus that schools were closed last week for winter vacations, caused bored ethnic youths to rampage the country with arson and vandalism. The area where Martin and I live in was one of the area hit many times by these youths. On our street alone, I had seen the police and fire trucks 4 days last week.
In fact, last Friday, I actually witnessed a group of these youngsters burning up a van! Well, Martin had actually noticed them from our kitchen window hanging around suspiciously on our street, and at some point, he said "I'm going to call the police." I was busy getting ready to go out and meet a Singaporean friend of mine who currently lives in Denmark (but whom I had not seen in around 10 years...so thanks to Facebook, we're reconnected again), so I wasn't really joining Martin in his little "Neighourhood Spy" game.
However, when Martin said he was going to call the cops, I was like "Is it really that bad?", so I went to check it out from our window. That was when I saw the group setting a van on fire, and I called out to Martin that they did it! Luckily, there was a police van already patroling the area, so a fire truck also came within 5mins and shortly after, the fire was put out.
I had decided there and then that I was definitely going to drive Caryn's car into the centre (I have her car while she and her family is on vacation). I mean, the van that was set on fire was just parked a few metres away from where I had parked her car! The probably of her car being targetted was pretty high! Anyway, I was also lazy to take public transportation on that very freezing night, so I was prepared not to drink too much on that night out. Not that I'm a heavy drinker anyway... .
So yeah, that was quite an eventful week...and it seems to have died down already, although the police and fire brigade are still being on standby. These youths ought to be punished severely if caught. I mean what kind of sick people go around destroying the private and public properties of innocent people?! Not only did they burn up around 108 cars, they had also burnt down around 11 schools! Plus a couple hundreds of garbage containers.
If they're so bored and want to protest or whatever, then I have a suggestion for them: GO BURN UP YOUR OWN FREAKIN' HOMES!!! Just please leave other people out of your stupid childish games.
I blame their parents. Or sadly, perhaps their lack of parents. It's a big responsibility indeed to be a good parent and bring up your kids well with discipline and respect for others, and not many are able to handle that responsibility to their kids. But yeah, no matter what, I feel that as long as parents are still legally responsible for their kid, whatever crime or pranks that they do, parents are the ones to be blamed. That may be harsh, but hey, disciplining your child with love and teaching them right from wrong should have started from when they're at a very young age. If they have the right teachings instilled into them from the start, they would know what's right and wrong, and not go around making trouble.
Anyway...when I see things like these, it makes me even more reluctant to have kids of my own. It's not that I don't think I can discipline my child. Quite the contrary actually; I feel that I'll be a very strict parent...but the thing is, I'd just hate being that strict parent. I don't want to have to teach someone what's right and what's wrong, to reward, to punish... . There may be a lot of joys of being a parent...but can anyone guarantee that?
I know there are many parents who will tell me that being a parent is the BEST thing that's ever happened to them...and I'm glad for that on their behalf. On the other hand, society has just as many parents who are fighting with their kids and having problems with them day in and day out. So yeah...joy or sorrow? I'd say it's 50-50, depending on who you're asking.
Oh well...I still have 4½ years to decide if I want to be a parent or not. Right now, it's 100% not...so let's see if time will change my mind...or Martin's ;o).
