Lack of community feeling breeds crime
Everyone knows that crime is a problem in this country, that’s no surprise. But of course crime is a problem everywhere. It’s a fact of life, no matter how unpleasant and disturbing we may consider that fact it to be.
No country is immune. Though crime rates vary widely around the world, industrialized nations generally seem to have more than their share.
Why is this? Perhaps it’s because industrialized nations tend to lose their sense of community due to urban sprawl. Undeveloped countries have populations who still live mainly in villages. Everyone knows everyone else. Those who live in villages tend to depend on their neighbors for their livelihoods to some extent.
There is a spirit of cooperation and interdependence that doesn’t exist in the huge metropolitan areas which dot the landscape of industrialized nations.
It’s odd that in a village of 1,000 or so people most know their neighbors intimately, while in a city apartment building with 1,000 residents most couldn’t tell you their upstairs neighbor’s name.
People in cities tend to become anonymous, and obviously it’s easier for criminals to commit crimes against someone they don’t know. Perhaps that’s why crime is generally more prevalent in cities, and less prevalent in rural areas.
We who live in rural areas have always felt that aspect of country life to be a real advantage. We felt safer, less likely to fall victim to crime. Not too many years ago people who live in small towns in America talked about being able to leave their doors unlocked and feeling safe walking their streets at night.
But for some reason that seems to be changing. Of course in this country drugs are a big reason for that change. There was a time when rural communities didn’t have to worry about drugs, but these days drugs, particularly methamphetamine, have been migrating to rural areas with a vengeance. And with them they bring all the plagues on society one would expect. They steal our sense of safety.
The recent drive-by shootings in Warren are a symptom of this basic change in rural society in America.
We can no longer feel safe on our streets or even in our homes. What does this say about our society in general?
We all wonder what are the motives of those who carry out these heinous deeds. Imagine firing into the home of two elderly women who have done nothing to you. Imagine having an altercation with someone and then driving up behind them and firing a weapon into their car.
It’s hard for most of us to imagine, but it happens. It used to just happen in big cities, but now it happens right here at home.
Citizens have a right to feel safe in their communities and in their homes, but that is becoming a harder and harder ideal to attain.
Our local authorities are to be commended for finding the culprit in these shootings so quickly, but while that makes us feel somewhat safer, it doesn’t alleviate the basic problem.
Lawmen can only do so much. It takes a community to really make a difference. We all have to work together to teach our children right and wrong. We all have to work together to help those children who have been neglected, first by their parents and then by society.
We have to work to make a change. We have to become a village again. We have to get to know each other and offer to help when times are hard. We have to learn to cooperate again. We have to learn to ignore race and class. And most important, we have to learn to do something that has been the basic tenet of every successful society, large or small.
We have to learn to love our neighbor again.