daniel christie,dies family turns life support, page-104

lol. karl you better stay away from the turps, mate, sounds like you fit the profile;-)

seriously, though, when has banning anything ever stopped it from happening?

making drugs illegal has not stopped them. and cracking down on trafficking has only led to the rise in backyard crystal meth becoming the modern poison of choice.

speed, steroids, alcohol - i bet anyone who posts on this forum would have just as much chance of accidentally killing someone in a rage on that cocktail. what are we going to do, tell all the kids that they aren't allowed to experiment? tell them that they all have to wear beige uniforms until they have had their own kids and are more aware of what "maturity" is?

no, i don't think so. most of us went through a few rites of passage growing up. being part of a team, having a muck up day after school, going to schoolies and being a complete baboon for a week. maybe a few of the older posters here did scouts? we experienced so many little rituals that are geared towards helping us to transit from spoilt selfish kids into community minded adults.

add to that the fact that most of us probably had 2 parents in the house, and one of them influenced us to become who we are (the apple and the tree)

so why is "mentoring young men towards responsible forms of cool" a tree huggers fantasy, as leanne suggested? why is it not just normal, like coaching a talented athlete to have better team skills? not all kids have two parents at home, not all kids have good role models. what hope do they have of learning how to be responsible? for some of them, even having kids of their own does not better them.



with some of the attitudes i have read here, i am not at all surprised that young men feel pressured to act like reactionary tough guys.

it's like the difference between a tradesman who guides their apprentice, and one who just takes takes the micky out of them and uses them for cheap labour. only one type will actually lead to another good tradesman being fostered.