Mothers of London looters
At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy, I want to share my initial reaction to the looting that has gripped London this week.
As I watched boys in hoodies setting fire to cars, making off with big-screen TVs and robbing injured passers-by, all I could think was, “Where are those boys’ mothers?”
I’m stunned by the lack of humanity in these London lootings. It’s senseless, selfish and depraved. And all I can think is how important the role of mothers is in these times when people are abandoning civility.
I usually try not to be too preachy on this blog because I have a lot to learn about life and motherhood. I don’t have any profound answers to life’s problems. But in this case, I believe that mothers can have a deep impact on the present and the future. Mothers have an enormous responsibility to raise kind, respectful children – the kind who wouldn’t rampage through the streets stealing and setting fire to things just because they can get away with it.
Former LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said in a 1993 conference talk, “Let every mother realize that she has no greater blessing than the children which have come to her as a gift from the Almighty; that she has no greater mission than to rear them in light and truth, and understanding and love; that she will have no greater happiness than to see them grow into young men and women who respect principles of virtue, who walk free from the stain of immorality and from the shame of delinquency.”
More and more, I think the world could benefit from his words – and from mothers. We have a responsibility that no one else can fill. We may not be able to round up the looters and bend them over our knee for a good, old-fashioned spanking, but we can turn our attention to our own children to raise them with “understanding and love.” And perhaps most importantly, we can raise children with a sense that they are members of a global community of human beings.
And … I’ll step off my soapbox now.
What do you think about the London lootings? How can mothers magnify their role to shape the next generation?
Erin Stewart is a regular blogger for Deseret News. From stretch marks to the latest news for moms, Stewart discusses it all while her 4-year-old daughter crams Mr. Potato Head pieces in her little sister’s nose.