The Rodney King Verdict: Did Our Justice System Fail? And Now What?

I teach high school. In light of last weeks’s events, I had some good discussions with my students. To be fair, many of their comments revealed more depth and insight than we often expect from today’s teen-agers.

Yet when I asked them if they thought stealing was wrong, I invariably got responses like, “Well, you could go to jail,” or, “Because you could get caught.” With rationale like this, no wonder Los Angeles experienced mayhem unlike any in our history last week. We seem to have raised our kids to believe that right and wrong is completely relative. Have we failed to teach them that some things in life are inherently wrong, regardless of the consequences?

To quote Dana Parsons column (“Violence Shows Society’s Center May Not Be Holding,” May 3): “Do we even have a center any more?” The protesters outraged by generations of racial injustice I understand. The looters and social misfits who don’t have an ethical vein in their blood are the ones I really fear.

Until we wake up and acknowledge a moral base by which all things are measured we will never free ourselves from nightmares like the one that ensued last week.

CARADAWN HOLTER, Costa Mesa