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How are teenage boys like elephants?

Teenage boys are killing each other in black and latino sections of Boston, and the white community is finally noticing.

It all reminds me of stories I first read years ago about elephants causing mayhem in southern Africa – elephants were trampling crops, wrecking houses, and frightening people living in small ‘towns’ in a way that was new, according to the adults.

It turns out that these elephants were young teenage males who had grown up differently from their forebears.  Poaching in the 70′s and 80′s due to the international demand for ivory decimated the numbers of elephants, and resulted in a huge number of orphans.  From the Elephant Management and Owners Association:

“Across the continent, many herds have lost their matriarch and have had to make do with a succession of inexperienced “teenage mothers” who have raised a generation of juvenile delinquents. Meanwhile a lack of older bulls has led to gangs of hyperaggressive young males displaying violence towards each other and other species (Nature, Vol 408, p 425).”

Does this sound familiar?

Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick called upon parents to be more involved.  But, if you are a young, single mother, you probably no longer have much influence on your teenage son.  As much as you love him, you may be afraid of him.  In fact, by this time, you’ve probably had more than one shoving match in the hallway, or watched furniture being broken, or had knives and/or guns pulled in your presence.  Yet, you don’t want to call the police because then you truly lose all control.

Most all the boys that I have seen in this situation who make it out on the other side have one thing in common – they have been lucky enough to connect with an older man, a ‘bull’ if you will, who helps groom them into manhood.

If each older man in Boston would take the challenge of being there for one teenage boy for a couple of years, it is my firm belief that teenagers would no longer shoot each other.  Yes, it would take time.  Yes, we’re all busy.  No, it is not our responsibility.  But, the violence is our problem.  And, it’s going to take heroes to solve it – the kind of men that go up the stairs when everyone else is running down.

If you can’t go to Iraq, well then maybe you can go to Roxbury and do some nation-building right in our own backyard.  And save a kid while you’re at it.