Someone responds to my Winnipeg Free Press editorial...

A vicious circle...

Re: We need to wrap our hearts around this boy (Sept. 16). Floyd Wiebe's comments about the 15-year-old boy who was murdered were refreshing to read.

These young female and male children are in bad situations because their parents found themselves in the same situations. Obviously, not all parents of kids who get into trouble or join gangs were not able to parent properly because of their own upbringing, but I am confident the large majority were.

So neither generation had a home base, a safe place to live where they learned of their worth and were loved and taught and cared for. So besides the normal teenage angst, these kids are dealt a life they should not have to live, just as many of their parents did before them. They know nothing else.

The village could come to their assistance and model to them how important and full of hope their futures are. Alas, the village is filled with, as Wiebe says, "somes, others and anyone elses." There are few citizens in the village who understand their responsibility.

DIANA TAMBLYN
Winnipeg