Earth Month and Earth Day April 22, 2019: Bring Home the Waterfall

Earth Month and Earth Day April 22, 2019: 
Bring Home the Waterfall
Bring home the waterfalls to make it cool and green.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Art Workshop for Children before a wall mural by the author in his family 

residence (Living with Nature Center) in San Vicente Ilocos Sur, 2017,

Bring home the waterfalls

to make it cool and green, 

and grow ferns and mosses

on the wall like screen.

To deaden the roar of cars

with sweet hissing sound,

break away the stillness 

where its water is bound.

Shower the scorched earth

but make the summer longer

for the kids to play around

until the season is over.

Lend beauty to the arts, 

in painting, verse and song, 

in solace and meditation

from the maddening throng. ~

Earth Day 2019: THE GOOD LIFE - Gentle Pillage of Our Fragile Earth

Earth Day 2019 

THE GOOD LIFE 

 - Gentle Pillage of Our Fragile Earth  

Earth Day 2019 is an event observed annually on April 22. It is a day held to demonstrate and promote environmental awareness and calls for the protection of our planet. Today, Earth Day, 2019 is celebrated in more than 193 countries each year.  

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Our Fragile Earth in acrylic by the author, c. 2005

• The theme for the World Earth day in the year 2018 is “End Plastic Pollution Countdown to April 22”. 
• The theme for the World Earth day in the year 2017 was “Climate Literacy and Environment”. 
• The theme for the World Earth Day in the year 2016 was “Trees for the managing the Earth Resources”.

In songs and verses, stone and dance,
from ethnic tribe to modern sage;
Atlantis, Gleaners, the Renaissance,
in every age the same Earth’s language.

It binds Nature and Man in a treaty,
through time immemorial 'til ignored;
cloaked by progress, greed and enmity,
Nature pinned by man’s cruel sword.

Civilization we raised all in its name:
seven billion plus ensconced in a village;
homogenization the global game,
the Good Life in gentle pillage.

Where's the world in every living thing
and Heaven in Earth’s bounty?
Infinity in birds and kites flying,
And eternity in peace and unity?

Chicken soup is best for convalescent.

Chicken soup is best for convalescent. 
Dr Abe V Rotor 

True.  However, there are specifications of the kind of chicken to be served. First, it must be native chicken. Karurayan is the term in Ilocos for a pure white native chicken which does not bear any trace of color on its feathers. It is preferably a female, dumalaga or fryer, meaning it has not yet reached reproductive stage. It is neither fat nor thin. Usually the herbolario chooses one from recommended specimens. He then instructs and supervises the household in the way the karurayan is dressed, cut, cooked into tinola (stew) and served to the convalescent. He does not ask for any fee for his services, but then he takes home one or two of the specimens that did not pass the specifications.

Chicken soup as a convalescent food is recognized in many parts of the world. Because of its popularity, chicken soup has become associated with healing, not only of the body – but the soul as well. In fact there is a series of books under the common title Chicken Soup -  for the Woman’s Soul, Surviving Soul, Mother’s Soul, Unsinkable Soul, Writer’s Soul, etc. Of course, this is exaggeration, but nonetheless it strengthens our faith that this lowly descendant of the dinosaurs that once walked the earth of its panacean magic. 

Try chicken soup to perk you up in these trying times. But first, be sure your chicken does not carry antibiotic residues, and should not be one that is genetically engineered (GMO). By the way, I was a participant in the rituals made by the herbolario I related.  I was then a farmhand and I was tasked to get the karurayan.  Our flock failed the test, but I found two dumalaga with few colored feathers. I plucked out the colored feathers and presented the birds to Ka Pepe.  They passed the criteria. 

Three days after I asked my convalescing dad how he was doing. “I’m fine, I’m fine, now.” He assured me with a big smile.          

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Trivia:
Rice is the first thing to carry with when moving to a new house. 

Together with rice comes a short list of basic necessities such as a bundle of firewood, salt, beans, nuts, fruits, sugar and coffee. The belief is that the family will not run out of these basic needs, an ethnic practice which still prevails in remote communities. The regard for basic necessities is the common denominator of this practice whatever may be the variations on the items being carried to a new home, says Reny Casanan, in her masteral thesis at UST on Ethnobotany of the Gaddangs of Isabela.

This practice is still be found. I have friends in the province who transferred residence to Manila. The first thing they carried was rice. “Rice is bounty,” they told me. I agree. Rice is cereal, and the root word of cereal is Ceres – the Greek Goddess of Bounty.

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A Landscape of Life

A landscape that lifts the curtain and opens a horizon on which each one of us passes but once, an experience more than destiny and eternity. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Landscape of Life in acrylic (2' x 5') by AVRotor 2014, showing details.

A Landscape of Life

A landscape that gains back clarity and focus, though slowly, from strained vision of light and shadow, fast moving cars and blinking screens;  

A landscape that gets frayed nerves back to function in reflexes governed by the conscious and unconscious mind in peace and harmony;

A landscape that restores freshness and purity of the primary colors, and expresses the full colors of the rainbow with the hand, paint and canvas;       

A landscape that makes forests lush green, distant mountains blue, trees in autumn in hues of yellow to red, and the sky azure as the deep sea;

A landscape that brings back consciousness to watch migrating birds in the sky, fish in the stream, and a drop of pond water teeming with life;

A landscape that sets the biological clock attune with the passing of seasons, and to understand the mystery of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring;

A landscape that is courageous to face force majeure and patient enough to bear the brunt as the landscape gains back its health and beauty;

A landscape that witnesses the transformation of a swamp into grassland and   woodland in an orderly fashion that spawns biological diversity;

A landscape that establishes niches and bridges of past and present, tradition and modern, living and the non-living in Rousseau’s scenery;       

A landscape that soothes noise into joyous sound, bleating and thunder as part of a Beethoven’s composition, chirping a language of praise;  

A landscape that releases us from his confinement in Plato’s Allegory to face the realities of the world, which is the essence of education;      

A landscape that is viewed with the power of the mind, heart and spirit, be it real or abstract - yet it gives meaning to reverence to our Creator;

A landscape that lifts the curtain and opens a horizon on which each one of us passes but once, an experience more than destiny and eternity. ~

Abercio V Rotor, Ph.D. is the award-winning author of Living with Nature Handbook (Gintong Aklat Award 203), Living with Nature in Our Times (National Book Award 2006), and radio instructor of People’s School on Air (Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, Gawad Oscar Florentino Award for Development Communication on radio). He is also author of other books in essays and poetry, and textbooks in Humanities and Literature. Dr Rotor is a professor at UST, a former director of NFA and consultant of the Philippine Senate. He is married to Cecilia A Rojas, CPA, MBA, CESO3, with whom they have three children: Matthew Marlo, Anna Christina, and Leo Carlo.  The family hails from San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.   

Flying over the crater of Mt Mayon

Photos and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

Closest I could get a photo of the crater with ordinary lens on a Zest airplane October 19, 2011, 2 pm.from Manila to Virac, Catanduanes .

Landscape view, seconds after taking the first photo above.

Surrounding landscapes: forested area, farmlands and settlements.

Beautiful Mayon, what's inside you?

I peeped within distance of your breath,

And a wisp of cloud veiled your beauty,

and oh, the warmth of your hearth.

Wonder if a woman is of your kind

Beautiful when calm and coy;

Within lies her strength, or her ire,

Her fit when wanting of joy. ~

Practical Pest Control at Home and in the Field

Never kill spiders around. So with wasps and the preying mantis. They are nature's biological agents.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Here are pest control techniques you can adopt at home.

1. To control furniture weevil and moths which destroy the felt and piano wood, place a teabag of well-dried and uncrushed black pepper in the piano chamber near the pedals. Paminta is a good repellant and has a pleasant smell.

Lantana camara or bangbangsit is effective as insect repellant. It is also an ornamental plant. It attracts butterflies. Grow a hill or two in your garden, better still, along the border or fence.

2. Coconut trees whose shoots are destroyed by rhinoceros beetle (Oryctis rhinoceros) can be saved with ordinary sand. If the trees are low, sprinkle sand onto the leaf axils (angle between the leaf and axis from which it arises). Sand contains silica that penetrates the beetle’s conjunctiva, the soft part of the body where hard chitinous plates (hard outer membrane) are joined.

3. To control bean weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus) an insect that destroys stored beans, especially mungo), mix a little ash of rice hull (ipa’) and spread it in a way that sand kills the rhinoceros beetle.

4. To get rid of nematodes (microscopic elongated, cylindrical worms) in the soil, incorporate chopped or ground exoskeleton (skin) of shrimps into the soil, preferably mixing it with compost. Chitinase is formed which dissolves the cover of the egg and the body of the nematode. Use poultry dropping to reduce nematode population in farms and gardens.

5. To control the cucurbit (plants of the gourd family) fruit fly (Dacus cucurbitae), wrap the newly formed fruits of ampalaya and cucumber with paper bag. Bagging is also practiced on mango fruits. For ampalaya use newspaper (1/8 of the broadsheet) or used paper, bond size. Roll the paper into two inches in diameter and insert the young fruit, folding the top then stapling. Bagged fruits are clean, smooth and light green. Export quality mangoes are individually bagged on the tree.

6. To keep termites away from mud-plastered walls, incorporate termite soil (anthill or punso). To discourage goats from nibbling the trunk of trees, paint the base and trunk with manure slurry, preferably their own, mixed with carburo paint (white paint). 

7. Raise ducks to eat snail pest (golden kuhol) on the farm. Chicken and birds are natural insect predators.

8. An extra large size mosquito net can be made into a mini greenhouse. Underneath, you can raise vegetables without spraying. You can conduct your own experiments such as studying the life cycle of butterflies.

Caterpillars of Papilio butterfly. Insects constitute 

a major food of birds, reptiles, bats and other animals.

9. Plants with repellant properties can be planted around the garden. Examples of these are lantana (Lantana camara), chrysanthemum, neem tree, eucalyptus, madre de cacao (Gliricida sepium), garlic, onions, and kinchai (Allium tuberosum).

10. To scare birds that compete for feeds in poultry houses, recycle old balls, plastic containers, styro and the like, by painting them with two large scary eyes (like those of owls). This is the reason why butterfly wings have “eyes” on them to scare away would-be predators. 

Scarecrows on a ricefield

Hang these modern scarecrows in areas frequented by birds. To scare off birds in the field, dress up used mannequins. In some cases, the mannequin may be more effective than the T-scarecrow. Discarded cassette tape ribbon tied along the field borders scares maya and possibly other pests. 

11. Prevent ants from invading dining table, kitchen sink, cupboard, by wiping with dilute natural vinegar, after final cleaning. (2 part water and 1 part natural vinegar). Vinegar is also a deodorizer of fungus and fish odor. Natural vinegar is a disinfectant  too.

12. Plant around the house eucalyptus, weeping willow trees.  They are repellents to many pest.  Use the dried leaves as smudge like "katol."  Smudging also induces fruiting of mango and other fruit trees, flowering os ornamental plants as well. Try it, it's also aroma therapeutic.

13. Never kill the spiders around. So with the wasps and preying mantis. They are nature's biological agents.  Just sweep the old cobwebs and let them rebuild new webs. Fogging and spraying is their number one enemy. Spraying and fogging are the last resort. Cover eyes and nose when spraying. Don't follow the advertisements. PESTICIDE IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS.  PESTICIDE POISONING IS CUMULATIVE. Scented sprays is deceiving because more poisons get into the body.

14. One practical means of insect control is by harvesting insects for food. This practice is not only confined among primitive societies but is still one of the most practical means of controlling insects. Anyone who has tasted kamaro’ (sautéed mole cricket – Gryllotalpa africana) would tell you it is as tasty as shrimps, lobsters or other crustaceans. After all, insects and shrimps belong to the same phylum – Arthropoda. Their body composition is the same, so with the nutrition we get - shrimp, crabs, locusts, cockroaches, spiders, scorpions, lobster, kuratsa, ipis dagat - all these are served in different recipes - to the gustatory delight of customers.  

Locusts may destroy crops but, in a way, bring food to its victims. During a swarm, locust is harvested by the sacks and sold for food and animal feeds. The same goes with gamu-gamu (winged termites – Macrotermes) at the onset of the rainy season, or the salagubang (Leucopolis irrorata), another insect delicacy. Other food insects are the grubs of kapok beetle locally called u-ok, eggs and larvae of hantik (green tree ant), larvae of honeybee and cheese maggots. Recently my family on vacation ordered hantik eggs in a restaurant in Vigan. Its price? P250 per order. Since then, we became vigilant of the presence of nests of this green tree ant in the trees around the house. 

The consequence is that, without the hantik, you will have more problems.  They are gleaners around the house, consuming morsels of pets which they carry to their tree nest to feed their young. They guard our orchard from intruders. No one would dare to climb a hantik-guarded tree. You can wait from the fruits to ripen in the tree. By the way, hantik ants seldom bite the residents of the house.  They seem to recognize their master.  There is some kind of pheromone affinity developed by association, and mutual understanding, I guess.  

Hantik are predators of insects, among them the dreaded hairy caterpillar - higad!  No wonder swarming of higad follows the harvesting of the green tree ants' nests.  

When is an insect a pest?

When we see an insect, instinct tells us to kill it. We should not. A caterpillar is a plant eater, but the beautiful butterfly that emerges from it is harmless, efficient pollinator. Hantik ants make harvesting of fruits inconvenient because of their painful bite, but they guard the trees from destructive insects. Houseflies carry germs, but without them the earth would be littered with dead, undecomposed organisms. They are nature’s chief decomposers working hand in hand with bacteria and fungi. Termites may cause a house to fall apart, but without them the forest would be a heap of fallen trees. 
Garlic controls most garden pests. Just add some crushed cloves to a pail of water before watering the plants.

It is natural to see leafhoppers on rice plants, aphids on corn, bugs in the soil, grasshopper on the meadow, borers on twigs, fruit flies on ripening fruits. These organisms live with us under one biosphere. If we can think we can dominate them, we have to think again. They have been dominating the earth for millions of years, even before prototype humans appeared. Just one proof: the total weight of ants inhabiting the earth far outweighs seven billion human inhabitants.

There is no way to escape pesky creatures. Conflict arises only when their populations increase rapidly to overrun our crops, spoil our stored products, and threaten our health and welfare.

Skipper with false eyes to scare   predators. 
We have set certain thresholds of our co-existence with insects. As long as they do not cross that line, we can cohabit this planet peacefully with them. By so doing, we can ponder at the beauty of their wings, the mystery of the fire they carry, the music they make, the sweetest syrup they make, the finest silk they weave, the magnitude of their numbers, their playful manners, their virtually indestructible built, or marvel at the mystery of their presence.~                                                                                              
  Trapping nocturnal insects for study. Entomology is the study
of insects. UST Graduate School students at Amadeo, Cavite.

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Lesson, former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 

 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Do you have a happy love life?

CONSENTING ADULTS, IN PRIVACY, WITHOUT COERCION OR HARM TO ANYONE, CAN ENGAGE IN ANY KIND OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR THEY DESIRE.
Dr Abe V Rotor

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“When we do not give or receive love in a balanced, harmonious, natural way, deficiencies occur in out innermost being. These deficiencies reveal themselves through many symptoms – depression, loneliness, destructive relationships, weight problems, bitterness, inferiority feelings, workaholism, alcoholism, drug abuse, a critical spirit, violence, sexual abnormalities, and many other forms. I believe we must treat the person on the other end of the symptoms.”

- Dr. Bernard Jensen, Love, Sex and Nutrition

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Here is a practical guide in attaining a happy love life.

1. Avoid stress and fatigue, and avoid smoking, alcohol, drugs, and food additives, as these accumulate toxic wastes in the body thus interfering with the body physiology. Avoid exposure to pollutants and chemicals. Poor diet, lack of exercise and nervousness, also interfere with the  proper functioning of our brain which diminish sexual vitality. Condition your mind before love making by affirming happy, loving, and caring thoughts. Maintain trust and confidence with your partner. Be calm, patient and kind. Remember that the body responds with what the mind dictates.

2. It is a fact that married people live longer and happier than single or divorced people. Single and divorced people are hospitalized more often, their death rate is twice, and they are more prone to nervous breakdown. Sex stimulates and rejuvenates our glands, particularly the hypothalamus of the brain which is the sex center. Active sex life helps prevent diseases and illnesses, by enhancing natural immunity. Since every part of our body is exercised during lovemaking- from the heart to the nerve endings. Sex is perhaps the best test of vitality and health.

3. There are people who are highly sexual, while others have very little interest in sex. This is human nature and there is no “norm” in this regard. However, good sexual attitudes can be developed. For example, proper advice can help a person overcome an experience that may be the cause of lack of interest in sex. Improvement in health leads to a more positive sex attitude. Recognize that lovemaking is teamwork, that the satisfaction of one can lead to satisfaction of the other. Age is another factor to sexuality. Although younger people are generally more aggressive, there are people in their middle or late age who can maintain the same level of sexual activity. Others become more aggressive in their middle age.

4. Keep your body healthy and attractive. This is the key to natural sexuality. Grooming cultivates natural beauty, irrespective of the color of the skin, shape of nose or eyes, height and built, etc. good health gives the gait in your movement, twinkle in your eyes, shine and flow in your hair, firmness of your muscles. It contributes to good posture. It makes your skin glow and lovable to be touched. It helps develop your personality to become likable and attractive. Magnetic personality, napapalingon, nakakapansin, pogi, sexy, are all related to body beautiful. Remember that natural beauty is a holistic expression, not only external attributes, but of qualities that emanate from within. It is an expression of “a healthy mind in a healthy body”, plus good character and fine culture.

5. Freedom and responsibility are inseparable in the defining sex. This is a simple guideline that governs human sexual behavior.

CONSENTING ADULTS, IN PRIVACY, WITHOUT COERCION OR HARM TO ANYONE, CAN ENGAGE IN ANY KIND OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR THEY DESIRE.

6. Be aware of the other attendant responsibilities in sex, such as the subject of pregnancy of sexually transmitted diseases. Sex education gives emphasis to responsibility in sex and marriage, particularly among young people.

7.A natural clock governs every person in his system. This is often referred to as biological rhythm. Although there is a general plan on how this internal clocks works, no two persons are tuned in to the same pattern - not even husband and wife. Try to live by your own biorhythms and learn to adjust with those of our partner. Recognize your moods and energies that change with the time of the day and night, with months and seasons. Lovemaking is mutually fulfilling when both partners have synchronized biorhythms. Generally human body is dynamic that it can reset itself daily and adapt to the changes in the environment.

8.Sex can become monotonous especially with modern life. Many people find little time to express tender love with sex. They employ a number of ways to vary their sexual expression as not merely satisfying a desire, feeling relieved and exhausted afterward - or just for the sake of giving in to their partner. Many more miss the spiritual element of lovemaking, whereby the act is a means to sustain a passionate emotion from which follow exhilaration, and a great feeling of satisfaction. Mantra yoga and Karezza are two Oriental lovemaking techniques that help transform an ordinary sex- oriented relationship into a loving, tender and harmonious one, enhancing a love-oriented relationship that bring together body, mind and spirit.

9.Food, Rest, Exercise and sunlight = Health (FRESH). This formula is easy to remember. Watch out for the food that you take. Eat health foods, and avoid those in the list of Don’t Eat which your family doctor gave you. A vegetarian is healthier and lives longer. Remember there is no substitute to adequate sleep. Maintain a healthy sleeping habit. Take a rest between heavy schedules, and avoid buildup of tension. Relax. Exercise regularly within your natural capacity. Do not over exercise. You need sunlight, more so if your are an office worker. Sunlight perks you up, breaks monotony, and takes out the blues in your life. It makes us closer to nature, and takes us to outdoor adventure. All these make a happy love life with your partner.

10.Be aware that of all creatures on earth only humans are endowed with sexual freedom which can be summarized as follows:

1. Sexual expression is not restricted to estrus periods or seasons of the year.
2. Humans have the ability to match their sexual desires with their moods and feelings. Hormones influence, but not dictate, sex life.
3. Humans can choose various sexual positions, instead of being restricted to one as in the case of animals.
4. Meaningful spiritual love and emotional feelings multiply the ecstasy of physical pleasure.

11.Learn to read and understand the sexual cycle. A woman’s menstrual cycle dictates her sexual moods. They feel sexiest at the midpoint of their menstrual cycle. There are people who are sexier in the morning than at night. There are also those who feel sexier in summer than during cool months, or vice versa. There are also times when men become sexier and this is indicated by rapid growth of their beard. Studies show that the most active time for sexual activity is in the evening, but lovemaking at this time is poor since the androgens (love hormones) are low. (They are highest between 8 to 12 a.m., and lowest  at 6p.m.) Evening is convenient to most working people. If this is not enough, make up for it during weekends.

12.Reduce meal size as the day progresses and avoid high calorie snacks in the evening. But do not skip breakfast or lunch. Carbohydrates help calm and focus the mind. Protein food boosts mental energy, but avoid fatty foods when you want to be mentally alert. When planning out an active evening, like going to a concert, holding a party, or having a date, reduce your dinner, with protein food preferred over fatty and carbohydrates food. Coffee makes you awake, and drinking may delay your regular bedtime or makes you fall asleep. If you want to wake up refreshed and alert do not take alcohol in the evening before.

13.An enduring and fulfilling love life is one that shared together by husband and wife. Here are the basic elements essential to a lifelong relationship: trust and confidence, empathy (feeling with the older person), marriage (sex outside marriage cannot remain meaningful and does not usually last). Then there are seven virtues of married life, which a couple must mutually uphold at  all times.

The seven virtues of married life

• tenderness
• courtesy
• sociability
• understanding
• fairness
• loyalty
• honesty

14.One must free his or her mind from fallacies and myths about sex.

One thousand-and-one myths

• A woman never forgets her first lover.
• Big lips and abundant pubic hair indicates sensuality.
• A woman’s interest in sex is more emotional than physical.
• All women grow to look like their mothers.
• Beautiful women are too narcissistic to enjoy sex.
• Baldness indicates sensuality.
• The size of fingers indicates the size of the sex organ.
• Colored people perform better in bed than white people.
• Small breast indicates less sex desire.
• Religious people do not permit cunnilingus.
. Drugs increase intensity of physical desire and fulfillment.

These and a thousand-and-one myth can effect, and even destroy love life. This is where sex education and counseling comes in.

The foundation of a full and sustained sex life is made up of proper diet, avoidance of toxic materials and vices, a regular physical exercise regime, positive attitude, adherence to morals and culture norms. Love and sex is a celebration on top of a pyramid built on this foundation.

NOTE: Among the comments and suggestions I received from readers of my books, and audience on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid, is include the topic of love and sex. In response to the request, I wrote this brief and direct guide about the subject. I used as main reference, Philippine Herbs to Increase Sexual Vitality, which Dr. Delia de Castro-Ontengco, Dr. Romualdo del Rosario and I wrote in 2000, with an encouraging message written by Senator Juan M. Flavier. ~

Troubled Signs Leading to Juvenile Violence

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Do you have children who love guns and bombs?  Be aware that this is an indicator, an early sign, a tendency in later years to becoming violent.  And it may come in their teen years.

Take these cases. A 17-year old who killed his father and mother and fatally shot two classmates with rifle (October1997 Mississippi), A 15-year old who fatally shot two students, wounding 18 others, both parents, and attacked an arresting officer with knife. And a 14-year old who killed three girls with a 22 semi-automatic pistol (Dec 1997 Kentucky). 

It is utterly shocking for very young people committing heinous crimes!

Adolescence indeed may lead to the wrong road.  But how do we explain younger boys involved in similar crimes? Just at the crossroad of childhood? Here is a case of a 11-year old and a 13-year old who attacked their school killing five with handguns and rifles. (March 1998, Arkansas)

Observe your boys (and girls), other kids as well if they exhibit the following

Troubled Signs

•   Torturing animals
•   Dressing in Black
•   Vowing grim imaginings like

            - “I’m going to blow something.”
            - “I’ll start World War III.”
            - “I’m going to kill somebody.”

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“A child might be defiant at school. What a teacher might not know is that the student spent the morning feeding a younger sibling or taking care of a drug-addicted parent. The child, raised with cruelty, violence and hunger, turns on those around him.”  - Pat Kennedy (Erie County Chief Public Defender)

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What can we do as parents, teachers, leaders of our community?

•   Keep your family solid, live in peace and harmony 
•  Restrict toy guns and war toys, including violent games on the computer
•   Guide their programs on TV, cinema, computer, including magazines.
•   Check your kid’s company. Guard your kid from joining violent groups
•   Communicate with your kids
•   Give quality time with them. (E.g. Participate in their school activities.
•   Show good examples of growing up, live up with these examples
•   Don’t spoil or pamper them
•   Take them to Nature    
•  Get proper advice

 Youth violence: Contributing factors

•  Poor parenting
•   Drugs
•    Poverty
•    Hopelessness
•    Poor environment
• Lack of education and training
•   Genetic tendency

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"There is a void created when parents are not doing their job. That void has to be filled." - Judge WR Cunningham, Poor Parenting: Why it hurts.

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A Case Study of a 16-year-old boy

The musician -- in town for a concert by Erie native Pat Monahan's band Train -- strolled along East 12th Street at about 10 p.m. on a Saturday night in August.

He had just come from the Country Fair on Parade Street and was headed back to Tullio Arena.

A 16-year-old boy spotted him from his aunt's front porch, where he sat playing with a BB gun he had stolen from Walmart.

He darted from the porch.

"Hey man, hey man," he said, as he approached the musician from behind.

The musician turned to see a young man holding what looked like a handgun.

"You better empty that wallet for me, man," the youth said. The musician ran, reaching for his phone to call 911.

Moments later, police found the boy with a friend, pushing a bicycle along the street. He had shoved the gun in his friend's backpack.

The boy is only 16 but has been offered what is likely his last chance at "care, treatment and supervision" by the state juvenile justice system.

His parents, who never married, split before he was born in Erie. He has been raised by his mother and his grandmother.

When he got up off the porch to try the robbery in August, he had already been in and out of placement multiple times in the Pittsburgh area and here in Erie County.

His mother and grandmother, standing with him in court in October, want to reach him.

"I am just afraid for him," his mother tells the judge. "He is my son. I love him. I want him to do the right thing."

The boy said he wants help.

"I don't want help like people bossing me around. I want help, like, people actually talking to me," he told the judge.

The boy prefers crime, his lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Ian Murray, said.

"He does not want to go to school and get bossed around. ... The streets have got him right now. He is glorifying criminal behavior."

Brabender asked the teen what he wants for his future.

"I want to play baseball," the teen answers. When Brabender looks dubious, he said he wants to go to college.

For him to have any of that, Brabender said, he will have to, at a minimum, graduate from high school. "No drugs and alcohol," he tells him. "If you ever get a job, you need to keep it. Somebody like you, I don't know if you are going to make it or not."

"I know your family," Brabender continued. "There are a lot of good people in it. You can be a good person. You can be a criminal. It is up to you."

-- Lisa Thompson

"Children raised in poor, disadvantaged families are at greater risk for offending than children raised in relatively affluent families." -- "Child Delinquency," U.S. Department of Justice, bulletin series

 

"Lost kid” - is there hope?

Yes, here’s one successful case. Jose took part in a violent fight, allegedly gang-related, in which one person was killed and another injured. Although tried as an adult, he served his sentence in Juvenile Hall, and by all accounts has turned his life around. To those who worked with him, Jose represents how kids, even those charged with violent offenses, can change when given a chance. To those who worked with him, Jose represents how kids, even those charged with violent offenses, can change when given a chance.

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Reference: Internet, Time