"Look at me in the eyes and tell me that you're happy with life, when you don't feel safe unless you carry a knife. There's a lot of places worse than the endz to a certain extent but that doesn't mean nothing when they murder your friends. It's all a mess, there's no morals left, we've got 12 year old girls out having sex" Lowkey
I haven't blogged in a while. I feel blogging is a chance for me to vent when I need it as opposed to a weekly update.
The Lowkey lyrics above have always resonated with me for the simple fact that they are inexplicably truthful and uncomfortable. Young people are carrying knives and are having sex and the perpetrators are getting younger and younger.
The disillusionment I felt this week after working with a young person has had a huge impact on how I will work with young people going forward. A young person who before my very eyes went from an angry, violent and aggressive person to a distressed, lost and confused child in the space of 20 minutes has caused me to truly question several things.
1) How have our young people become so scared for their own safety that they feel they need to carry such sinister and brutal weapons to protect themselves?
2) Why do we so often fail to recognise that beneath all the exterior of our young people, that they are children and that children need love, discipline and guidance in order to flourish?
3) How do we break such an ingrained knife culture when even the death of loved ones fails as a deterrent?
4) How do we reinstall to young people the value of a life? Both their own life and the life of another.
5) Why are our most vulnerable young people so neglected and who is responsible for them?
6) Why are children no longer allowed to be children? Where have childhood innocence and societies moral compass gone?
These are just some of the questions I have been asking myself and I don't have the answers. I am a confident man and have always held onto the fact that I understand young people and what they are going through. I really had to step back today and question that view which has caused me a real discomfort and much disillusionment. I'm not seeking answers or morale boosts from this post. I simply want people to consider the questions for themselves.
I believe God has called me to work amongst these young people and for that reason He is working all these things for good. I am trying to "be still" and know that God is in control (Psalm 46:10)
However I'm human and I am really struggling to comprehend just how our young people have been allowed to become so marginalised and disconnected from life.
I have been sent some verses by loved ones tonight that have been an encouragement.
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord , supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.
Psalm 94:18-19
I hope that over the next days and weeks I am able to cling to these comforts in His Word and continue trying to make a positive impact among London's young people.
