This breaks my heart. Another young African man lured into violence. The sole pirate surviving the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips has been sent to New York to stand trial. His mother says that Abdi Wali Abdulqadir Muse (according to her the press got his name wrong–I’m going with the mamma’s version) is only sixteen, but US officials say he’s at least eighteen, and can be tried as an adult. (The phrase “at least” would imply that they have no idea how old he is, and I can attest that record-keeping in Africa may not be quite up to American standards.) Still, there’s not a whole lot of difference between sixteen and eighteen anyway, and anyone who hasn’t had their head hid in a hole for the past decade knows that our laws protecting the civil rights of prisoners are not what they used to be. I doubt that his age will make much difference.

Yes, he did something horrible. But why did he do it? What were the factors that turned him into the sort of person that would do it? Does it bother anyone else that he’s so skinny, that the pictures make him look like a dark starving wraith in chains, surrounded by the well-fed white people who have taken him captive this time?

I’m not trying to defend him. He may be past the point of reformation and restoration, and he certainly can’t be set loose to continue the lifestyle he’s been living. But what can we do to stem this epidemic of violence among young men at home and abroad, and why aren’t we doing it?

And for what it’s worth, I don’t think giving OUR young men guns and sending them out to fight or subdue other young men with guns is going to do anything but exacerbate the problem. It may make things look better for a while–from the perspective of whichever side is winning, at least–but ultimately, you’re only creating more people (and entire nations) who rely on violence to solve their problems.

Maybe if we beat more of our swords into plowshares we could grow something the world could digest, and that young pirate wouldn’t be so skinny. Crops go down way easier than bullets.

Edited to add: Evidently, the boy left home only a week and a half before surrendering to the US Navy. His mother was shooing him out the door so he wouldn’t be late for school, and he didn’t come back. That doesn’t sound like a hardened, hopeless criminal to me–that sounds like a hungry, testosterone-charged teenage boy with delusions of grandeur.

Um, while we’re busy beating our swords into plowshares, could we also back off the glorification of violence and crime in things like movies and videogames? Mophia Wars, American Gangster, heck, even Ocean’s 11 and Pirates of the Carribean–watch and play what you want, folks, but don’t act shocked when kids start thinking that criminals are cool. You can argue that consuming that sort of media is no excuse for violent behavior, but I’ll respond that that justification is no excuse for supporting it with your time and money. Ugh.

Jenny-rant over. Over and out.