Two Polish Lads stabbed to death in Dublin
I read this morning that sadly two Polish lads were stabbed to death in Dublin, because they wouldn’t buy alcohol for teenagers in an off-licence.
There is no point in me writing the obvious here, except to say that as a human being and an Irish person, I feel sick to think that this could happen but it would have probably happened if they were Irish as well. The sister of one of the lads was quoted as saying “she didn’t hate the Irish or Ireland because of this and that it could have happened anywhere in the World. This is a very kind statement for somebody who has been so devastated.
What really struck me about this article was that it was said, that some of the scum that did this came from dysfunctional families. I came from a pretty dysfunctional family myself growing up, had a few soft brushes with the law as a teenager which I am not proud of, but they were nothing serious. They were more serious to me than anyone else and still at times bother me. Everybody else forgave me, except myself.
I remember I was in big trouble when I was 19 years old (not with the law this time) and I went to my family for help. But I didn’t get help and I felt so alone. Then I was walking down a road in Cork feeling sorry for myself, when I thought that I had no business blaming anyone for the way my life was going anymore. The one and only person that was responsible for my life and the way I would live, was myself. “Forget the past” I told myself. Today is the day and it’s up to me and me only to shape that day. This was a big turning point in my life, and 24 years later I can still see, hear and smell that day walking in Cork as if it was yesterday.
The point I am trying to make here (probably badly!) is, who is resposible for these two lifes cut so short? If people cannot handle their children, should they not be imprisoned as well as the children themselves? It seems to me that if a parent has lost control of a child they should report it and be willing to testify against the child. In a lot of these cases the parents go and defend the child and that is when, in my opinion, if the child is found guilty the parent should do an equal amount of time.
The question is when is a child responsible for their own actions? If a child is allowed to hold a driving licence for a car at 17, that is probably the age when they should be responsible for their own actions without the parents being implicated. But there are people far better qualified than me to comment on this issue. I am only going by my own experience.
Despite that I came from a disfunctional family growing up, I could never see this as an excuse to stick a screwdriver in the side of somebody´s head – on the contrary, it made me love people more and accept love and friendship from anywhere it came, which in itself would leave you a little vulnerable at times, but you learn along the road of life as we all do. For sure, it is better to get hurt from love now and again than to be hurting others in the way that these scum finished the lives of the two Polish lads.
An interesting question is what would you do with whoever commited these murders? If you rehabilitated them properly to have a conscience, they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves anyway for what they did.
I believe that we should dedicate one of the islands off the coast of Ireland to be a prison for those who commit any violent crime of this nature. There should be no prison staff and the inmates should be given food and water until they die or kill each other, whichever suits them. We should not waste any state funds beyond what is absolutely necessary on these thugs. And, as i said, if they are kids, the parents should be put on the island with them if they are not going to testify against them and report them.
It was nice to read that the residents of Drimnagh were so strongly united with our politicians in supporting the families of Pavel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos, which is only what you would expect anyway from any decent human being.
It makes no difference to me what nationality these lads were. The bottom line is that they have passed away, leaving two families devastated, as well as many friends I am sure.
May they rest in peace.
Mmmh, imho parents shouldn´t be allowed to *breed* in the first place, let´s say they need to do a “psych test” before conceiving to show that they are actually *fit* for parenthood. I think 95% of people in this sad, mad world would probably FAIL.
Prison off the coast of Ireland?! No way. That´s still too close to home (France, Britain, Scotland etc.). Some of them might be able to swim it! Nah, I say let´s deport them to the MOON!
Comment by Barbarella — March 3, 2008 @ 18:47
the funny thing about being a parent is that you have to train for 4 years to be a mechanic,7 for a docter,and 0 to be a parent,which is one of the most important tasks of all for the future if society.
Comment by MURPHY — March 4, 2008 @ 17:58
Murphy: Yes indeed! Nobody cares if you FAIL any non-existent tests for parenthood, and if you´re crap at it you are still allowed to “practise”!!!
Comment by Barbarella — March 4, 2008 @ 18:22
Just home from Lanzarote,saw Aslan on their first night-absolutely fantastic.
In response to Murphys blog-I believe with the benfit system we have-if parents cant control their kids we should remove the benefits
Comment by and Pat Hopper — March 7, 2008 @ 21:08
What we are experiencing in Eire now is the falldown of the Catholic church after people more or less turned thier back on it in the 1990’s and rightly so after all the corruption and abuse scandals came to light, Celtic people are wild in thier DNA ..in thier nature, the Amercicans used the expression ‘they took the bad gene over on the boat’, It is this that we are seeing now in a rapidly growing pagan country, i feel sorry for anyone who doesnt drink being out late on a saturday night at home now, i used to see it when i drove home from gigs late at night ..people looking like raving lunatics or zombies walking out in front of the van with thier cocks or tits hanging out and vomit stains on thier clothes after listening to UK/German techno pounded out through a shite sound system in some shite soulless nightclub, we are the shameless generation, we dont care if the priest talks about us at sunday mass because we wont f#cking be there! This is not a pro catholic rant by the way ..far from it! but it is a pro spiritual rant ..’spiritual’ the dirty hippy word that wont make you any money. Spiritual ..the way you felt when you heard about the man laying down his own life for the love of others. Ireland was a land of druids , then a land of saints and scholars, Ireland was always a spiritual land ..this inspires people to do great things. Ireland at the minute is a void ..its a big ball of Me Me Me wrapped inside an old news of the world paper with some stupid wanker like Jordan or Bryan McFadden on the cover. There is no return. The machine is the next step of evolution. We need to spread some good. we need to feel emotional. we need to be strong. we need to read and teach. rant over!.
anyone going for a pint??!
Comment by Rory — March 11, 2008 @ 18:54
To comment on what RORY said:
Hey, it´s not only Ireland. My homeland Germany has changed so much in the last 25 years it´s unrecognisable to what it used to be – people used to call it a “welfare state”, which it *was* back then still, when I was a kid, but now…. it´s fallen apart. The wall should never have come down. A decade and a half later, the East Germans still hate the West Germans and vice versa because, let´s face it, you can´t just put two cultures in one pot that have lived totally different lives, one under communism, the other under capitalism and expect them to just get on with each other!!! But now they find themselves thrown together in just ONE country and they simply *have* to get on with each other… And I am not even going to start on the borders now being open to all the Eastern Block immigrants.
Right, rant over too.
Comment by Barbarella — March 11, 2008 @ 19:04
hey barbarella,
did it ever dawn on you that if the f**king wall was never put up by some asshole in the first place,you would all get on fine!
As regards the eastern europeans,it sickens me to my teeth that people can be so obnoxious to think that every human being in the world should not move freely around our planet. 95% of the world´s wealth is owned by 5% of the population. We are the 5% in the west, and for us to think that we have the God given right to tell another human being from a poorer country where he/she can and can’t go is a form of sickness, that would require serious dramatic urgent attention.
Any body who succeeds in business/music,or any other field from the west should be very humble. They are not geniuses. They have only succeeded agaist 5% of the population of the planet. If the other 95% had the same equal opportunity,it’s only then you would know how smart they were,and worse still they would know.
You say your country has problems with the east germans, can you imagine the problems they have with you. You also say the problems are there for a generation, well it will take more then a generation, before thick people will start to understand that both sides are only human beings trying to get on as best they can.
I feel so angry towards people who think in any way that it’s right to separate any human being from an other by force/wall or any other way because of their culture, colour or race.
I better stop .
Comment by Murphy — March 11, 2008 @ 19:41
Hey Murphy,
It´s not MY fault they built a bloody wall in the first place! I wasn´t even bloody BORN then!
You said:
“You say your country has problems with the east germans, can you imagine the problems they have with you.”
I didn´t say “my” country (it hasn´t been “my” country for 25 years, mind! it´s just where I was born and raised for 18 years) has problems with the east Germans. I said that they do not get on with the west Germans, and the west germans didn´t get on with the east germans. “My” country is just ONE country now and they´re ALL German, there´s no west or east, but for the politicians there to just bloody knock the wall down and not even think about the implications, now THAT is the thing that´s sickening! For the first few years they put on a “solidarity tax” that ONLY the West Germans (or ex West Germans) had to pay – no wonder the rift between the Easties and Westies widened. But that´s the government´s fault, not the people´s fault.
As for people not openly going where they want on this planet… well, I disagree with you. If I went to a Muslim country where wearing a head scarf was the RULE and I would refuse, I would probably be executed, or something. So no, I don´t agree with the freedom that you dream of that there *should* be. SHOULD be, yes. But there sadly isn´t….
Also, just my last penny´s worth, and this is because I am a big animal rights activist, if they had put PEOPLE in quarantine or subjected them to at least a medical check before travelling to another country, we wouldn´t have AIDS spread all around this planet. But that would violate those precious human rights. Yeah. And human rights my arse. If I have to pay in taxes for a “human” like Myra Hindley who sat in her cushy prison taking university evening classes that I myself cannot afford to pay for, then that´s taking human rights far too far, imho.
And I´ll stop here too. Cause I got work to do!
Comment by Barbarella — March 11, 2008 @ 19:51
Barbarella,
You are focusing on who knocked the wall,not who built it. Don’t blame a democraticly elected government for anything, the people of germany elected that government,whether you consider yourself to be one or not,is a matter for yourself.
Instead of resenting paying a solidarity tax to bring up an other people,the west german people should have been proud to have the oppertunity to help revitalise their ex neighbours,and ex country folk, and I’m sure there were plenty of germans were happy to pay for this.
As regards wearing head scarfs in muslim countrys, if i go to your apartment, i respect the fact that you don’t want me to smoke there. i have two choices. 1)not to go,and2)to go and not smoke,of course there is a third choice ,i could go and tell you that you are all wrong for not letting me smoke. I have traveled the world over, and anywhere i have chosen to go by my own free will,i have always respected the culture and laws of those countries,and if i felt i couldn’t,i simply didn’t go there,but i am not going to go,and then tell them,that they are all wrong. I have been in many muslim countries where alcohol is forbidden(and you know that’s a big problem for me!!) and spent time there without alcohol,and met really nice people who have a very different culture to me,which I totaly respect.
There are assholes in every race,culture and nation,and they are easily spotted. They are the ones who tell every one else how to live and know better for every one. To try and be a little generous they may not be assholes, better to describe them as “people of limited intelligence”.
Comment by Murphy — March 11, 2008 @ 21:19
The thing with the solidarity tax was that the West Germans had to pay and the East Germans didn´t have to pay. The problem was though that within a few months of the country being one, a lot of East Germans had better paid or at least the same paid jobs as the Westies, so no wonder the Westies were so resentful because they were losing out on their salary, whereas,say, the East German family next door with the job that pays more than mine, doesn´t have to pay that very same tax. It used to be the same with the Council tax back in England in Thatcher´s day: it was NOT fair. But then, what is?
Re. smoking, Murphy, you can NOT compare this to wearing a head scarf. Smoking is not your *culture*, smoking is an evil addiction (some say that about religion too! Heheh), an addiction under which spell I was myself was for more than 15 years, and I also have a cat with ASTHMA (don´t laugh, it´s very painful for him when he gets an attack!), so it´s not only not a cultural thing, but also a health thing (not only for my cat, but me too). So please, give me a better comparison, but not smoking. An addiction is NOT a cultural thing.
Before I became so ill I loved to travel much more than I do now, and I have been to lots of countries except the far East and Australia etc. too, but travelling to a country and spending a week or three there and LIVING there is a different matter too…..
Comment by Barbarella — March 11, 2008 @ 21:27