Punishment

I read a news story today that reported on some vandalism done by about 25 teenagers. The vandalism was done to the house of the famous poet Robert Frost, when one of the vandals decided to throw a party on the rairly used property. As often happens, word got around quickly, and the party swelled to about 50 people. After a few hours and $100 in beer, things got a little rowdy. A chair got broke, and that started a frenzy of destructive behavior. 25 young men and women were brought up on charges of vandalising this historic place. This story so far is non to far out of the ordinary. The sentence that was handed down however is. It seems that the court decided to make all 25 of them take a short course on the poems and the life of Robert Frost. The thought behind this is that by knowing some about the man, and the contribution he has made to society, might make them change their ways and think twice about damaging others property. As if knowing about the life of this dead poet will some how change these young people from the inside out. The reality is that it wont! I don't care how great a writer someone is, they can not truly change a life from the inside out on their own. It seems very sad to me that these people thought that making these teenagers study Frosts' poem The Road Less Traveled, is going to have some everlasting change on someones life. But maybe they were not thinking that. Maybe they were thinking that making these kids sit through a few lectures on poetry from a guy that died before any of them were born, poems that they have already slept through once in high school, might be a much better deterrent than making them pick up trash on the side of the road. I am all for it if that is the case. Besides, the worst thing you could have done to me when I was in high school was to make me go back to school on my free time, which I had to do on many occasions, only then is was called Saturday school. If that is not the case though, I wish I could convince them that the only mans story that can actually change a person truly from the inside out, is the story of Jesus. His words are the only words that can remake a person. They are the words of life that can change a persons heart. All they will do, if they are lucky, is change some of their behaviors. I guess if you don't know God, a change of behavior is the best you can do.