On October 13th, 2006 James Macready-Bryan went out into Melbourne to celebrate his 20th birthday. Like many men his age, life was good. He had just completed an International Baccalaureate and had been excepted into Monash University for Arts/Law. He was liked by many for his friendly persona and sports ability. But that night, James' life took a sickening twist; James received one punch to the back of the head that left him with an acquired brain injury and robbed him of the ability to talk or feed himself, unable to control his own movements and made him wheelchair bound.One punch.
Shannon McCormack. Ben Thompson. Cain Aguiar. David Hookes. Matthew McEvoy. Mark Urch. These names may not mean anything to you, or one or two may seem familiar, but you're not sure why. All of the above were king hit or received one punch that changed their lives forever. In the cases of David Hookes, Matthew McEvoy, Mark Urch, Shannon McCormack and Cain Aguiar, one punch killed them. Ben Thompson and James Macready-Bryan are in what doctors call a 'twilight state', neither here or there.
James' friends were sick and tired of opening the newspaper on a Saturday and Sunday morning and reading of a similar case to their friend. Something had to be done, and so Step Back Think was born.
Step Back Think, has two purposes: one, is ongoing support for their friend and secondly to educate young people on the dangers of alcohol fuelled violence and aggressive behaviour. The group began work with the Department of Education creating pilot programs aimed at year 9 students to make them aware of the dangers of aggressive behaviour and to simply, step back and think.
Chief police commissioner Simon Overland dropped a bomb shell of a statistic when he claimed that a 'one-punch homicide' happened in Melbourne once a month.
Step Back Think supports the Victorian Department of Justice campaign, Championship Moves, humorous videos aimed at males ages 18-25 to protect their friends from possible dangerous situations when out drinking. To view all of them, click here.
Other incentives Step Back Think have created are a website created for a venue rating system where people can leave feedback on places on whether they are prone to violence or not. Another incentive is a pre-booking system where you can avoid queses by booking into a place first, an initiative that some places already use.
The jury is out on why Melbourne is becoming more violent. Some think it's alcohol and drugs, others think it's the current generations feeling of self-importance and how-dare-you-knock-me mentality.
Either way, I, like James Macready-Bryans friends am sick and tired of hearing of another life wasted due to one second of madness. Something has to be done, whether it's an improved police presence or tougher liquor licensing laws or education, something has to get through to these young men (and women) that aggression is not the answer to a problem. Grow some balls, and walk away.
What do you all think? Do you think this sort of program will get thorough to some people or are king hits something we'll have to get used to hearing about? Like the TAC ads do you think it will reach some people, but not all?
Why do you think Melbourne has become more violent?
For more information and to watch a video of those affected by one-punch violence click here
I've said it again and again when it comes to these "Issues" with young people: Education, education, education. Think about this. When was the last time you used a line of trajectory? When did you last have to search for roots and water from a frozen tundra? Or what was McBeth's obsessive drive. A great part of our education has remained the same for centuries; sure, we've improved classroom sizes, abandoned physical punishment and yes, greared toward methods like Restorative practices (which is fantastic), however, what of inner peace and wellbeing? Is meditation only something we reserve for later in lafe when we hit a breakdown and realise we need to do some soulsearching? Some of the most ancient cultures believe that to teach a child to meditate for five minutes per week on compassion would be enough to do away with war in a few generations. Why? Because when taught that compassion is the natural way of things the thought aggressive competitiveness would become alien to them. Too many of us scoff at the notion that things can be different but stop and ask yourself, Why not? You can take control of and change any other aspect of your life, so why does this seem so impossible?
ReplyDeleteAs it stands at the moment, we fill our childrens heads with letters, nubmers, equations and a host of other things that, granted are useful, but certainly not everything they will need going into adulthood. Consider this; we build structures to be fire, flood and earthquake proof in the event of a disaster. We keep a savings account for uexpected costs. We wear sunscreen on hot days, carry umberellas on cloudy days, use mosquito repellent, take vitamins, wear seatbelt and on and on the list goes. Every day we do something no matter how small to prevent a bad thing from happening or at least protecting ourselves when it does.
We don't actively enrole and engage our children in similar preventions. Instead, we allow our children to grow up essentially unprepared for the real world in respect to not what is right and wrong in the law but what is right and wrong morally.
Teach a 5 yr old child to meditate on compassion for 5 - 10 minutes a week and eventually not only wll they fully understand the nature of compassion but inevitably, they will begin to live compassiontely. Now, I don't need to state the obvious rewards a single generation of compassionalte children would bring about. And keep in mind, these children will in turn have children, so anything expected in the immediate sense from an already overworked education system along with the unrealistic expectations some parents expect from teachers, would inevitably been lessened by these new compassionate young adults teaching their children the same outlooks on life.
A Utopian pipe-dream? Perhaps. But at the cost of 5 minutes a week, I'm willing to give it a shot. Are you?
Good points you make Seamus and you make me think that you would behind the educational programs that Step Back Think are trying to create. I belive that most of these young people made a snap desion and it backfired. If they could turn back time I bet that they would walk away and not take a swing.
ReplyDeleteIf we can make the point that it's not worth it, this one moment will haunt you for the rest of your life then maybe we can get through to most. Then again, TAC's been around for 20 years and people are still doing stupid things so it will always happen. But every bit helps.
True, but if you look at TAC and also other Government Departments attempts at getting people to listen there are two major flaws: Flaw number 1: Advertising, whilst a seemingly powerful tool, is really only useful when you want someone to buy something when the notion arises. Impulse purchases. Driving like a dickhead is not an impulse buy; it's an ignorance that you are invincible and other people are expendable.
ReplyDeleteFlaw number 2: The nature of the advertising. Perfect example: "We'll catch you before someone gets hurt." Picture this: you are 18. You are a dickhead. You have a V8 and 12 mates in the back. You see a big billboard that says: "We'll catch you before someone gets hurt." It's a carrot in front of a donkey. It's game on. The police have just laid down a challange and the eejit in the driver seat is only too happy to pick up the gaunlet.
Where Stop Back Think differs is they address their subject in person, face-to-face, living examples, before they are out drinking in pubs and parties. Maybe if the TAC went out to schols and not only performed one-off sessions which I know they do, but actually followed up with year by year sessions to the same children and allow the consequenses to sink in - Particularly if it is married up with restorative practices.
Again, Educating our children not to make life destroying mistakes rather than waiting until mistakes are made and then driving expensive campaigns to fix the unfixable.
Thank you for your kind words Mugundhan and please thank your cousin for me!
ReplyDelete