Good vs Evil

EVIL

It started with, well let's be honest no one is really sure whether the shooting of Mark Duggan was good or evil or one under the guise of the other. Who were the good guys and who were the bad is yet to be established. But what has come from it, what the country has become because of it, was definitely heading towards a big old bag of evil. Looting, arson, violence. Thoughtless, mindless thugs destroying entire communities and innocent peoples lives. And essentially a million miles from whatever lead to Mark's death. Kids, children, young people who should have been at home with their families were out committing an array of heinous crimes because they don't know how else to be heard. Committing EVIL because it's the only thing that made them feel part of something, made them feel like they belonged. Is that the fault of a bigger evil?

Poor parenting?

Poor education? 

Government cuts?

Unemployment?

Benefits?

The housing situation?

Ghettoisation?

But then came the

GOOD

Hundreds of people with brooms, cleaning up the streets, their streets. Communities coming together not to prove something, not to rise against anyone, just to sweep up the mess. Out in force they cleared away the broken glass, the litter, the rubble and, as best they could, made their local streets into what they had been before the evil had gotten there. These people don't know each other but they care for each other. They care for their community and are working together to make things better. To prove to that good can rise above evil and win. Like it always does.

Over the past few days I have experienced an array of emotions. The first and strongest was anger, and then depression, sadness, concern and sometimes downright misery at the state of the country and the attitude of these young people. But today it changed, today there is hope, today there is spirit and today I cried tears of happiness.  

Because you see for me it is all about William. I am no different from any parent out there (apart from maybe the ones that brought up these jokers)

and I want the best for my son. So a few months ago we bought a house, our first house purchase to mark our time as grown ups and somewhere to raise our children. Now, I have mentioned that we were already aware that Tottenham wasn't a 'nice' area but overnight on Saturday it turned into a war zone. Buildings were burned to the ground, shops were looted and the high street was destroyed. So my first thought was 'what have I done to my baby? Is this his future?'. I do not want him growing up alongside people that think that this is acceptable behaviour. I do not want his peers raised by parents that have NO control over their children's attitude or whereabouts. I don't want him raised amongst evil. I have let him down again, already.

But I no longer feel like that because, it turns out, the majority of people are not like that. The majority of people are like this

The majority of people want to help clean up the mess, want to donate what they can to help those in need and want to make the world a better place to be. As well as the people that cleaned up the streets with their brooms and the people that left these notes on a boarded up shop I have seen so many other positive role models for my son. The community of Tottenham has come together and shown strength, resilience and a sense of community that I am incredibly proud of. And these are people I am very happy to have my son brought up amongst.