POPE BENEDICT AND BINGE-DRINKING
Today, the main headline in the local.paper is about physical violence towards hospital staff. The day before, it was announced that fire crews now face an average of 40 attacks per week nationwide. Binge drinking and anti-social behaviour are out of control, and while overall crime has been reducing for 10 years, violent crime is on the increase.
Who is to blame for this? It is too easy to blame the government of the day, and all parties are promising more police and more laws, but you can never have a policeman on every street corner 24 hours a day, and even if you did, that would still not end yobbism.
There is a growing sickness in society, where nobody, schools, parents, or individuals take responsibility, and growing numbers of people do not know the meaning of the word rerspect. Greed, egotism and self-gratification are the only concerns, what the new Pope Benedict called 'The dictatorship of relativism', but the answer lies in our own hands, not in those of government or the churches.
Formerly, crime was caused by poverty, now it is often too much free time and spare cash in the pocket that is the cause.
