5.20.2007
Rash rage
News source: Shock, Outrage, Shame
One cannot possibly condone his rash rage; it was inexcusable, unbecoming, and inherently wrong. In a fit of anger and frustration, he punched a bus captain for doing his job, and sparked a wave of controversial debate.
Firstly, the whole incident was caused by the retention of an inconspicuous EZ Link card. This trivial causus belli definitely did not warrant such a violent response from the student. He could have taken the calm approach and asked politely for an explanation, but he evidently chose not to. It is possible that under those circumstances, he felt compelled to take immediate action. However, he had no right to physically injure others in the process, and should have considered the consequences beforehand. A response written by the student published by the press corroborated with this.
As a student from a top school, one might expect a certain degree of civility and maturity from him higher than that of the typical student. While I can personally identify with this, is the uncouth manner in which he behaved any less forgivable? Although this could well be a once-off case, it highlights the increasing infiltration of violence into our society, which is worthy of concern. A teenager myself, I admittedly could be underestimating the scale and magnitude of this issue, but I am yet to observe such behaviour become widespread. Despite this, solutions are necessary to inculcate values in our youth and reduce the impacts of a violence-saturated upbringing.
The father of the student in question, probably blaming himself for the incident, apologised in public to the bus driver and knelt for forgiveness on behalf of his son. Some argued the father's parental obligations did not extend so far; rather, the student himself ought to take responsibility for his own actions and take the required steps to remedy any mistakes. While I concede that the brunt of the responsibility should be borne by the student, seeing that he is well capable of making decisions, the father's recognition of fault does not necessarily translate into a lessening of his son's guilt. As long as the student realizes that his decision alone caused the misdeed, he has learnt his lesson.
Based on the school's report of his consistently good conduct, I hope the bus captain retracts assault charges and allows the student a second chance. He appeared to be aware of his horrible mistake soon after the incident, and did show remorse for his actions. His youth is testament to how much his character and attitude could change after this incident, and we should not strive to restrict his future as a result of a single blunder. However, this does not absolve him of all punishment.
Regardless of the extent of corrective measures, for any student - hell, for anyone - to utilise violence to get their way is plainly unacceptable. Rash and rage could have common components, but to put them side by side spells disaster.
(This blog post should not be termed a disaster because of its title.)
(To put 'rash' and 'rage' side by side spells 'rashrage', not 'disaster'.)
(It is unconfirmed whether the common components (RA) are disasters yet.)
# posted by splot @ 14:02 
