What is Happening to our Children and Young People?

News Article: Family of Four, including two minors, busted on Drug Trafficking charge, February 22, 2011, retrieved on February 26th, 2011 from www.channel5belize.com

Reading the news article above has left me astounded. There is only one question that I can ask: what is happening to the young people of Belize? A boy of nineteen years old is hardly an adult. What is really shocking is the example a mother is setting for her young children. This incident is a perfect example of children doing what they see. I am very disappointed on the behavior of the thirty-two year old mother. Her responsibility is to ensure that her children are growing up in the most decent environment there is. She is doing the contrary. Let us say that drug trafficking is the only means of sustaining her family. If this was the case, she should have been more discrete and avoid letting her children get involved in such an act. More than likely, her children will now be left without a mother; however, it is hardly logical to call such a person a mother. Concerning the nineteen year old, yes he is considered an adult, but obviously has the mind of a child. He too must have been exposed to drug trafficking at an early age, and has continued in the bad influence until he has finally been caught. It is very difficult to have sympathy for a mother of such unscrupulous behavior. The only ones that I am worried about are the two minors. Probably they will be put in hostel. Maybe so they will develop positively, although what they have been exposed to will be difficult to erase from their minds. Only time can tell whether these two minors will get involved with drugs in the future, when they are adults as in the case of Alden Coleman. Fortunately, they were caught earlier in life.