An Omen
Before the storm, there are signs such as strong wind, dark sky, birds flying back to their nests, or ants moving their habitats. Before the Sunami, there were earthquakes, and sea water at the beach going down rapidly. Or after the heavy rain, if the running water is red and muddy, there will be a landslide and flood is coming soon.
If we learn to recognize these signs around us. We can see that signs occur every time a disaster happens. Therefore we can protect ourselves in advance.
Also in today society, if we have followed news in the past few years, we will see that strange incidents, which never happened during our parents’ years, happen continuously. Crime committed by children or teenagers is one example.
Elementary students or high school students beat up their juniors cruelly unlike any young human could do. Six male teenagers raped a 14 year-old female student and drown her to death. A male teenager wanted money and a car to take his girlfriend out so he killed a middle-aged woman who was acquainted to him. Worse than that, the killer put the victim’s body in the car’s trunk and drove around with his friends for 3 days without feeling anything until the body began to stink and the truth was revealed.
A female student with age not over 20 spilt boiling water over another girl’s face, dug her nails into the victim’s nostrils and pulled strongly. The victim’s nose bled terribly. All of these were because of a very mild cause. The student’s father, instead of feeling sorry for the thing his daughter had done, took the daughter’s side and claimed that the victim stole the daughter’s cell phone.
A student hit his teacher’s head because the teacher punished him hard.
A son of man with influence cold bloodedly drove a Mercedes to hit pedestrians to death and his dad still supported him.
People whom society honors and respects as life saviors are medical doctors. But a doctor killed his own wife, chopped her into pieces and stuffed her in the toilet. Another doctor was a suspect in giving an order to murder one of his patients who sued him for a bad plastic surgery. He has also been involving in other cases.
Senior students welcomed new students cruelly with various hideous methods. Some of the new students died. And this kind of incident happens repeatedly.
All these examples are signs telling us that our society is rottening. People begin to have a more cruel mind. Age of criminals is getting younger and younger. People with big title become inhumane. Our lives and assets are no longer safe.
If these people had been taught when they were young to have love and mercy towards other living things, they would not have grown up to be as cruel like this. Adults can begin to soften their children’s mind by teaching them to be kind to animals. They can teach them to be responsible for their pet’s life. And when they grow up, this kindness and being responsible will still be within their hearts. They wouldn’t commit crime or harm other people.
It is possible that if we trace down bad people’s biography, we might find some similarities between these people. For example, they might come from a wrecked family. They might not have been loved or hugged by their parents.

During their childhood, they might not have a chance to have a pet. Their mind, therefore, become hard and violent. In many countries, pets are used to help the patients with mental illness because pets are such good friends. They are lovable, honest, and can make people feel good. They can soften human’s mind. If you ask serious pet owners or animal lovers, you will know that they never hit their pets. And these people can never spill hot water over anyone’s face, neither can they knock anyone’s head, nor rape, nor chop their spouse into pieces. People with good mind won’t do anything like this. It’s too inhumane.
This is very strange in Thai society that men with authority do not recognize these omens. They just let them happen over and over again. The right way to rectify these bad incidents is by teaching our children since they are still very young for what is right and wrong. In doing so, it takes time, not just campaigning only once or twice and it would succeed. We should add basic law in young students’ curriculum, so they would realize what are considered wrong or unlawful in the society and what could the results of their wrong doing be. Besides we should put context on morality for the students to study, too, as our parents used to study when they were young. Parents should take their children to temples or church regularly to absorb the goodness in their hearts. And it would be a very good idea if the schools take their students to jail or prison as a field trip. The students might be afraid of the consequences of the wrong doing.

Another way to soften the children’s mind is to give them a pet to love and care for. They would learn to be responsible. The good pet could be a dog, a cat, or a rabbit. It shouldn’t be the kinds of animals that you have to take their mother’s life first in order to get them. That’s cruel. Parents can teach their children that life is valuable. Therefore, once they have a pet, they have no right to abandon their pet or hurt it in any way. Once they have a pet, they have to take care of it until it dies. Pets will make the children laugh, smile, and happy. If the children love them, they will return the children’s kindness by being good and honest. And when the children know how to share their love to animals, then they’ll know how to share their love towards other people as well. Our beloved King does the same thing. He sets a very good example for us. Princess Sirinthorn also has many dogs. She loves them as much as her father loves Khun Thong Daeng, his dog, and her puppies. We should teach our children to follow the King’s footstep and they will never get lost.
We should help each other now since we see the sign before it’s too late. Remember the Sunami? Dr.Smith Thammasaroj, Director of National Disaster Casting, had warned us that Sunami might happen to Thailand. However, no one listened to him. They believed him to be insane or that he wanted to ruin the country’s tourism industrial. He became a joke. Later, Sunami did happen to Thailand and Thai people had to pay a very great price. We lost uncountable lives and properties. All of these were because our carelessness, were it not?
How many times do we have to pay for the same mistake, for taking the signs for granted? In the States, a Korean student shot more than 30 other students died. Soon, it could also happen in Thailand. Probably not by gun, but by a weapon far more powerful than that. Only God knows.
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