Having read about the 63-year-old man who was seized by hooded men near the Peace Lab at Hal Far, bundled into his own car and taken to his house in Paola, where he was bound and beaten, got me thinking about what has gone wrong with society. As someone commenting on the incident said Malta is no longer the safe place it used to be, but then the same thing can be said the world over.

Personally, I feel that the problem begins in schools and even in the home before children start going to school. When I was a kid, I was taught certain values by my parents, the difference between right and wrong for one. If I did something wrong I was punished and it certainly never did me any harm. If I was doing something silly out in public and was seen by a policeman, he would cuff me round the ear and send me home. Would I complain to my father that a policeman had hit me? Would I hell! Had I done that my father would have hit me as well.

These days a policeman is not allowed to hit a kid. I don’t mean beat him up, I mean punish him for doing something wrong. Because of this kids have no fear of policemen and therefore no respect and that is how they grow up. It’s the same thing at home. Kids are actually taking parents to court for spanking them, so parents have no control over them and kids enter the world thinking they can do anything they like.

We now have the situation in Malta where people end up in court for serious offences and get let off with suspended sentences. We also have the situation where people end up in court for what many see as minor offences and end up getting jail terms totalling years. Recent perfect examples are the English guy who was jailed for growing a bit of weed and the Romanian woman who was caught importing a kilo of heroin. He gets a jail sentence and she is set free. Madness!

In order for society to work properly there must be an element of respect coupled with fear as regards the law. Parents must be allowed to chastise their children, within reason of course, without being accused of abuse. Policemen and teachers must be allowed to do the same again within reason and must receive the backing of parents. And finally, when things go wrong and these kids or their fully-grown versions end up in court, they must receive a sentence designed to instil fear in them of ever doing the same thing again. We may never get back to the good old days of our grandparents, when you could go out and leave the key in the front door, but if we even come close it will be a better society for us all.

James A. Tyrrell

COUNTY ANTRIM

N. IRELAND