What To Do With America’s Youth?

I don’t usually respond to letters to the editor sent to my newspaper, but since the following subject is directly linked to an article I wrote, I thought I would make an exception.
Going into this you should know that Yvette Clark, who was arrested July 20 for slapping a juvenile she apparently didn’t know, doesn’t refute the fact that she hit the 15-year-old boy.
It should also be noted the boy’s reaction is not known for sure. It has been rumored he was cussing at several people at the time, but that information hasn’t been confirmed and was not listed in the police report.
Yvette Clark’s response to the article “Fight over smoking lands woman in jail” was thus:

This is not about a woman assaulting a juvenile. After it was over, the grandmother said to me, “You need God.” She didn’t know who I was. And grief filled my heart as I thought to myself, “that was God.”
Cigarette smoke is killing you and rebellion is killing your grandson. And God is trying to save the both of you. What’s ahead for them?
This case is not about a woman assaulting a juvenile.
It’s about a mother disciplining a teenager before it’s too late. But now, in this day and age, any chastising is against the law. I thought to myself, “Why is he with his grandmother? Where are his parents? Whatever happened to old fashion whippings that taught our youth to respect their elders, parents, teachers, principals and officers of the law?”
This fight is about real love, the “this is going to hurt me more than it’ll hurt you” kind of love. Nobody recognizes real love because they haven’t seen it in such a long time.
God help us for what we’ve allowed our own children and teenagers (to do). God help this whole nation because now we allow same-sex marriage and lesbianism, removing prayer out of our school districts, and allowing children to divorce their parents. Yes, it pains me to see so much bad.
Signed
Yvette Clark

Have you found yourself a little taken aback, trying to decide at what point you stopped agreeing with her rationale? Or do you whole-heartedly agree with Clark?
Although I agree with her that some youth need disciplining, where we differ is when she took disciplinary action into her own hands. It was not her place to slap, spank, yell at or discipline another person’s child in any way.
That responsibility should be reserved for the parents or grandparents, even if they aren’t going to do anything about it. The lack of a disciplinarian in certain juveniles’ lives does not give just anyone the right to assume that authority.
Clark is very upfront with the fact that she is a minister and that she believes her response was God working through her to show that boy obedience and authority. But I am almost positive that is not the way to accomplish that goal.
We are not here to judge others or punish those we consider “wicked.” That is for God to sort out through His divine intervention, not for us to decide.
It pains me also to see a world that is driven by money, sex and lies. Yet, slapping a 15-year-old boy isn’t going to fix the world’s problems. It isn’t even going to make that child see things as you would like them to. We could argue all day long about the solution to the disobedience of youth, but having a stranger slap a kid most certainly isn’t the answer.
Clark truly thinks God was working through her that day to rectify the wrongs that were taking place at Jaycee Park. I hope someday God works through someone else to show Mrs. Clark that there is a better way to handle the problems in society and that we are all His children who should seek to follow the example He set while He was on this earth for 33 years.