Our society is addicted to bullshit.
We believe that legislation, ordinances, programs and policies will eliminate the seven deadly sins.
Sorry. Not gonna happen.
People do not behave solely in reaction to societal circumstance. People steal, kill, rape, cheat, lie, gorge, gulp and envy out of human nature. Society reacts to human nature and not the other way around. We build walls, fences, write laws, authorize enforcement of said laws because some human beings feel comfortable taking from others, raping others and killing others, if gorging, drinking to excess and paralyzing body, mind and soul with drugs if not enough.
Once the walls, fences, written laws and enforcement of said laws have been eliminated, people are not going to change their human natures - they get worse. Read the papers.
Thuggery is not a health issue. It is a condition created by a complete destruction of civility - civic obligation. Government helped destroy civility.
In much tougher times than our own, parish and neighborhood initiatives became part of the culture of civility. Tough, hungry, angry and hopeless kids were introduced to boxing and other healthy activities by a priest - Msgr and later Bishop Bernard Shiel.
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Bishop Shiel was no social engineer, he understood human nature. Shiel invited everyone to step into the ring and change their lives. Catholic, Protestant, Jewish kids - white, black brown and yellow - became the citizens who defeated fascism and created the greatest standard of living in human history. Bishop Shiel is all but purged from Chicago and American history by the social engineers who co-opted and then destroyed his work with government programs.
Programs gave us the blood soaked streets of Chicago. There is a clarion call to not only maintain failure but reintroduce its most expensive lead balloon - Ceasefire.
For the last few months, the Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune have printed op-ed pieces by former journalists, academics and the usual gold standard voices of "Same Old/Same Old," calling for the return of tax dollars to Ceasefire - a post-incarceration job opportunity for gang-bangers and street pharmacists.
Government Money (GM)gets tossed only to political players, political preachers and political pandering people in print ( formerly called hacks).
What works and receives no GM is neighborhood initiatives. Neighbors need to go get Private Funding from local businesses, private foundations and people with the capacity to give.
Violence, like all addictions, is a symptom of a human problem, a personal problem and not a disease that be cured by removing inanimate objects. Violence is the exercise of power over other people by people who feel powerless. Violence is prima facie unjustifiable.
The frustrated shout and scream. The frightened lash out and destroy.
Violence can be beaten, only when people no longer feel powerless
Celtic Boxing in Mount Greenwood is one such program.
Founded in 1993 by Mike Joyce a Chicago attorney and lifetime resident of Chicago. The club was started to give neighborhood kids a place to learn the art of boxing and to offer a positive outlet.
Mike Joyce also started an on site boxing program at Leo High School where Mike attended high school. The club was started to inspire inner city youth to enable them to build confidence and the skills to compete in the modern world. Over the years, Coach Mike Joyce has mentored many troubled youth and has helped make them better, more confident adults.
The Celtic Boxing Club is an Illinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League sports program. The Club is open to all ages and has sponsored numerous boxing events throughout the city especially for police and fire departments and public safety causes.
To Inspire - to give breath where no none exists
To Enable - to provide the means to achieve
To Build Confidence - to construct the heart and mind toward a goal
To Compete - to defeat despair
Next Saturday, Celtic Boxing and the West Point Boxers will compete in an exhibition at the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Prior to that they will conduct neighborhood workshops, workouts and sparring demonstrations at Leo High School in Auburn Gresham neighborhood and Celtic Boxing in Mount Greenwood from 10AM until 12 PM.
September 24th is an opportunity for Chicago to witness what works. If Mayor Emanuel really wants to change the atmosphere of thuggery and despair in Chicago, he needs to close the windows on what has and continues to fail- marches, shout-fests and social -engineer lab experiments like Ceasefire.
He needs to open the doors to what works. Chicago needs to walk through those doors.
The Queen of St. Baldrick's Day - Her Majesty Ava*!
