Day: November 6, 2011

Bali Boy Family Cash Grab – What’s Wrong With That?


Family of Bali boy in quick cash grab – headlines to that effect in an online news portal seem to suggest it was a reprehensible act. Somehow, the opportunistic conduct of the family of the teenager arrested for buying drugs in Bali, was thought to be something many would tut-tut about.

It looks like no matter how much the society worships money, it still frowns on conduct which is self serving and opportunistic, especially when the community has backed the family up in providing moral support to the teenager and his family.

I must confess to being apprehensive about this family’s values and conduct. I have been guilty of thinking the parents must have in one way or another been involved in drugs themselves and that the conduct of the 14 year old probably reflects what has been going on in that household. That’s a prejudice one easily slips into, much as I dont want to find any excuse for my thoughts. I’m sure I’m not alone and many would try to rally to this young person’s cause and try and have this boy come home soon, to be spared of the emotional and mental trauma that he must have been going through.

So why then does the news headline imply impudence and invites sneers and even condemnation?

I suspect it is the apparent selfishness of the act – the abandonment of communal values as a price for self advancement and self improvement. Apparent apathy for how that conduct would sit with community expectation is probably what irks many. The world may turn its back on the cross and the selfless interest it represents, but it still wants behaviour which is sacrificial for the sake of upholding common values. I thought that was interesting.

Related articles
Advertisement