Opinion: Incident a good teaching moment

Like any community newspaper, the NewsNow team love to cover all the great things in our communities.

That is the easy, the fun, part of the job.

There is also a regular dose of uneasy. Items which push everyone out of their comfort zone.

Such an instance arose last week in Smithville – as you can see, good reader, on the facing page.

It was interesting – in speaking to mother of the young lad who was the victim in this incident – that she wanted to focus on the positive which, to her, was the community coming together to help out in many ways.

Good on the neighbour who took the boy in, offered refuge and had him wait for the arrival of his parents. Some people choose to look the other way and not get involved. It’s great to see that mentality has not permeated Smithville.

There is no need to go on about the incident, but it is important for residents to know it occurred. A good teaching moment for parents and kids in terms of awareness. Most wouldn’t think such things happen in their town, but they do, likely daily, just not this extreme.

M.W.