Time for change

I read the letter to the editor submitted by Gladys Doney to this paper a couple of weeks ago and I also met Gladys in town while shopping and we talked about this.

I too, am appalled and cannot fathom why anyone, young or old would so wantonly and cruelly kill someone's pet.

I am fortunate enough to have a son who works for a major airline and consequently I get a number of free flights every year and I visit many major cities.

I have found that with very few exceptions, the attitude of our youth in these cities is one of total disrespect for anyone and everything.

It would seem that the "rap culture" has taken hold and in that culture, the bigger thug you are, the higher your status is. In that culture, having served a prison term makes you "da man."

This incident that Gladys wrote about gives me pause to wonder if perhaps the gangster mentality hasn't reached the more rural areas of our nation.

Could it be that MTV and the multitude of terrible role models who accompany modern day television dictate our youth's behavior? Surely we all want out daughters to turn out like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton and I'm sure that we would give anything for our sons to emulate Snoop Dog or Kevin Federline, for example.

I have heard the same tired, worn out excuse that each generation has its own eccentricities. That's true but perhaps each generation has chipped away a little more at the moral fabric of our nation to the point that we now have no moral compass at all.

Clearly we have now and have had for some time a big problem with drugs and the rap culture. And yes, it's not music but in fact a culture. I thought that maybe it would run its course like just another fad.

However, it seems that it is human nature to seek out the lowest common denominator. Given the choice to emulate those with morals or those whom are morally bankrupt, it appears that the bad wins out every time.

What to do?

Hmmm, perhaps a thing called parenting might help. Actually coming down hard on the drug dealers might be a step in the right direction as well.

I still recall the time that the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force visited our community just after the drug related murder of a teenage boy here and when asked why they didn't include Sanders County as part of their territory.

Their reply was: "We don't go where we're not wanted; you might want to talk to your sheriff or mayor about that." (We do have a new mayor now though).

They were also asked what the conviction rate of drug arrests were in their county and they replied: "100 percent."

Yet when our sheriff was asked the same question about Sanders County, his mumbled response was: "I think around 50 percent."

Now why would such there be such a vast discrepancy there? That one always made me wonder. One thing for sure though is that we need change and we need it now.

Paul Necessary

Plains