18
Bring Back Nosy Neighbors
We have seen how the powers that be can come down hard on anyone who is bullying on the internet. Arrests have been made this week of people sending abuse via Twitter.
Yet in the same week we have another case very similar to the Baby P death; the horrific tragic death of a child who did not ask to be born.
Week in and week out I see people travelling to work, engrossed in their little hand held contraptions, they do not look around them. There was a time when ‘nosy neighbors’ were the norm but now people have become afraid to approach other people or talk to them in case they are thought ‘ strange’.
High rise blocks of flats where people are cut off from one another do not help and young women not able to look after their children slip through the net unnoticed.
The elderly have all been taken to a safer place in homes and sheltered housing. Communities have been shattered and destroyed for ease of control.
Isn’t it time the people of this country looked around them and became responsible for the society they live in. We all talk of the Big Brother society but once again we have allowed this to happen. People have absolved the right to look after themselves and to fight for their own rights and have laid down and said look after me. People have willingly given up their rights to a better society and it is only people who can get it back.
Enough is enough!!
How can a child starve to death in front of teachers. How can a child have to steal from lunchboxes; then how can teachers lock up lunch boxes and allow a child to starve?
When I was a child if I had not taken my dinner money or had no lunch that teacher would have been in my mother’s kitchen faster than I could have got out of school. I can see her now, an imposing figure of a woman with her booming voice. She would have made my father quake in his miner’s boots. My parents would have been so ashamed of themselves they would not have held their heads up for a month.
I am sorry but enough is enough. There are safety nets in this country but they are obviously stretched to breaking point and beyond. It is up to us all as individuals to be nosey neighbours, to take control of our lives and the lives of those around us. To look out for others more vulnerable, such as children and animals, and if we see something that is not right then we must make sure that either we sort out the problem or we get authorities to do it on our behalf.
It is no longer enough to say I informed someone; it is up to us all to see that the information we pass on gets to a person or persons who has the authority to act. If we are classed as a nuisance then so be it; just get the job done.
The teachers of little Daniel should have taken responsibility for a child who was obviously not getting enough to eat and made sure the matter was rectified and not dropped until something was done.
Personally I would have turned up at school every day with a packed lunch for him. If that is not allowed then do something which is allowed but do not leave a child hungry, it is immoral and a judgment on all those who watched.
Action speaks louder than words and it always has. As long as people have their heads in computers and mobile contraptions and are worrying about what is happening the other side of the world more young children will be abused and walk around in designer clothes with not enough food in their bellies.
This is wrong; this is an indictment on every person who had contact with that child, however briefly. It is too late for that child but people by becoming ‘nosy neighbors’ might be able to save other innocent little children from the same fate.
It is time people were no longer afraid of other people, people need to step forward and not stand back and say it is not our business.
Yes it is your business, your attitudes make up the society you live in. If you want to live in a fairer better society and not see harrowing scenes then it is up to us all to ensure that this cannot happen again.
If there is a house in your street where children live then it is up to each of you to markedly look at those children. Not to have your head stuck in a computer or a mobile device but to look and see what is around you.
If a child is not being looked after then speak to the parents, tell them you know, tell them you can see and probably in an awful lot of cases this could be enough.
Having a nosy neighbor is far preferential to talking to four walls and abusing your children for want of human contact.
Yes bring back the nosy neighbor, don’t hand over your money in the supermarket until the person taking your money looks at your face; speak to any children you see in parks and playgrounds and speak to their parents. Let them know silently that there are other people around who are watchful and who care. This is often enough for those people to want to join into their own society as good parents and nurturers of their children.
Do not let apathy and ignorance destroy another life. Become a nosy neighbor and be proud of the fact. Leave your fear at the gates of the park and the entrance to the block of flats. Take your rightful place in your own society. Be ever watchful of all your neighbors and hope they will be watchful of you. Be proud of the fact that you will help to make a better society in the memory of children who have lost their lives like little Daniel.
