PAPA, I HATE YOU!

The below entry is quite disturbing. Readers, especially teenagers, please read with caution.

A teenager in Italy was playing PlayStation II FIFA 2009 that day. And as claimed in a news report, the father always gave him instructions and tactics in order to win. On that day, as usual, the father chipped in and advised the son. The young man was upset at this and scolded the father with some annoying words. This made his daddy angry and he decided to do something he might have regretted for the rest of his life. He switched off the console in anger. The boy jumped up and shouted some really bad words at his dad.

Next came the eerie part. He went into the kitchen and took a knife, went out into the living room and cut the throat of his father. He then cooly (YES, COOLY) washed the knife in the kitchen sink and put it back. The boy then went back to his room and slammed the door. All these he done in front of his mom who still did not realise what was going on. Until the bleeding husband staggered in with hands cupping his throat, blood flowing out profusely.

Thank God the man did not die and was hospitalised in critical condition. The police came and took the boy who did not resist arrest. The Play Station console was brought as gift for his birthday by his dad.

What went wrong? Series of questions need to be asked.

1. Where did he get the (evil) courage to hurt a person with a knife?

2. What makes him so violent?

3. When was the thought of hurting someone with a knife came to him?

4. Did he ever have any respect for his parents, especially the father?

5. Does Play Station II or FIFA 2009 have anything to do with the violence?

First of all I can only speculate on the issue because I do not know all the facts. Looking at the incident, I am shocked at the random violence of a teenager who was just playing a non-violent game. All I can say is that the anger that was bottled inside him was not properly dealt with for a long time. I cannot say that he didn't know what he was doing or losing control. Remember, he cooly walked back with the knife and even took time to clean the blood. If it was a spur of the moment, when he attacked his own father, he would have been frozen in fear after that. He didn't!

I also think he hated his father so much so that he didn't want him to be around. This means he had a bad relationship with his father or both parents. FIFA 2009 is completely okay but I also believe he played some violent games on it too. Perhaps he was exposed to some violent moments in his own life, either on the tube or real life.

We are living in troubling times with so many dysfunctional families all over the world. These families produce more trouble youth that fill our society to the brim. Their thinking is simply this, "If it's not cool anymore, I'm out!"

This makes the Gospel even more urgent in our society! The Bible tells us to turn the children's hearts back to the fathers and vice versa. The time is now! Or else....