April May Kagaoan

There is something deeply troubling about a society that is quick to demand the harshest punishment for children, while celebrating convicted plunderers, tolerating corruption, and rewarding leaders who normalize violence. Young people do not grow up in a vacuum. They learn from the values we model, the behavior we reward, and the systems we build around them. Violence rarely begins at the moment it becomes visible. It is often preceded by bullying, social isolation, neglect, untreated trauma, and countless missed opportunities for intervention. If we want children to reject violence, then we must also be willing to examine the ways our society excuses, glorifies, and profits from it. We cannot celebrate violence among adults and expect young people to learn a different lesson.