The Little Ones

 

11-year old Jocelynn Carranza is dead. Certain classmates at her school in Gainesville, Texas thought it would be great fun to threaten to call ICE on her family and have her parents deported.  In fear of losing her family and being left alone, Jocelynn Carranza took her own life.

 No one should, but many will politicize this tragedy. The Left will say “Aha”, see what happens when you turn the ICE dogs loose and Fox News celebrates the purge of undocumented immigrants.  The Right will counter with none of this would be necessary if Democrats had not opened the borders the last four years and allowed our country to be invaded by illegal immigrants.  Sadly, we know how our politicians and the media will spin this.

 But the real issue here is the behavior of some children toward other children.  Of parents failing to teach their children right from wrong.  Of course, there have always been bullies on the school yard.  We had them back in my day.  But they were few; often wildly unpopular and not in the mainstream of students.  They were also subjected to punishment from teachers and reports going back to their parents who often meted out additional punishment.  At least to a significant degree bullying was held at bay. 

Not so these days.  Teachers may lecture about bullying and post messages around the classroom to raise awareness and discourage bullying.  But it’s a bit like the old Robin Williams joke about un-armed London Bobbies shouting at criminals to “stop or I will say stop again.”  In too many places school yards have come to resemble a prison yard with the guards looking the other way (or at their smart phones). Add in social media bullying and there’s no escaping it when a group of bullies finds a vulnerable target.

 11-year old Jocelynn Carranza is dead.  Who’s most at fault?  Perhaps all of us.

 

“Red and Yellow, Black and White,

They are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world”