Hidoko Matsumoto (4) 2A

Monday, July 26, 1999

No Plagiarizing! Comments: voidmatsumoto@yahoo.co.uk. I'm not a professional writer, so bear with me. Flames will be gladly ignored.

Once upon a time, little red riding hood was saved from the wolf's stomach by a hunter who passed by the way. However, in real life, it is not always so. Imagine that you are our dear little Red Riding Hood, passing by, and the wolf engulfs you up in one glomp. Now, imagine, you are in the wolf's stomach. It is pitch dark all over, and poor you can't get out. The hunter passes by.

Now, what does the hunter do? He has options. Option one, to hack the wolf open and save little Red Riding Hood. It is our ideal little choice. Then, there is option number two. The hunter is afraid that the wolf would kill him and gobble him up. He pretends that he did not see anything and runs away. This may be considered cowardly, but it is most likely what some of us will do.

Let's discuss the results of option one. By saving the little Red Riding Hood, it is not only considered punishing the bad, it is also considered saving one's life. Then, the wolf will be dead, and will no longer be around to harm any more Little Red Riding Hood Twos. Even if the wolf is alive, it will most probably learn its lesson, and thus stay away from its sins.

What happens when the hunter chooses option two? The hunter will be leaving someone else to perish, while he lives on guiltily ever after knowing that he has seen evil done, could have stopped it, yet did not. Little Red Riding Hood will no longer be around to brighten up the world, and the wolf will still be harming more innocent passer-by.

Now pretend you're the hunter. What will you do? Cross your heart and tell me this. Tell me what you know you will do, not what you think is right. Will you choose option one, or option two?

As we can see, by choosing option one, we bring about a happier and brighter world, where we can live in more peace. Let's compare it to a real life situation.

You see a gang fight take place, whereby someone is deeply wounded. You can go up there and stop the fight yourself, you can pretend you did not see anything, and walk away, or you can call the police directly and tell the truth without letting the gangsters know yet.

If you chose the first option, it is silly, because, if you have any brains, you will know that you will most likely be hacked up into little bits and pieces. Unless you're the genuine Superman, never do anything rash by yourself.

Then, if you chose the second one, you will be doing something you should not do. You're seeing something which should be righted and you're not doing what is right. You're just running away and being ignorant, and it is definitely not what we should do.

Finally, the third option. The most perfect and idealistic one, where everyone lives happily ever after. The police comes with their guns and catches the gangsters to where they belong-- Jail, where they can repent and where they'll be learning that crime *does* pay.

Now, you can see, even in the peaceful society today, right here in Singapore, crime still happens. Here goes an old yet true saying-- "low crime doesn't mean no crime." Just because the crime rate is low, it does not mean that crime does not exist, it is merely suppressed to its lowest. And crime can take place to any one, any place, any time. You may think that chances of that happening to you are zero, but what *if* it does happen to you one day? You never know what the future holds.

Thus, crime prevention is very important. No matter of what age group you are, you will be able to help out. A simple call costing ten cents doesn't make much difference to your lunch. Yet it may save more than someone else's whole month's salary. Think about it. Even though the police are very good, they are not super humans. Crimes have, indeed, gone by without being solved, and it is up to us to stop these incidents. This does not mean that the police have not tried their best. They certainly have.

But, remember, just as the most you can score in a test is hundred percent, the most police can do is try their best. Yet their best does not mean that they are able to crack every case easily using technology, evidences and ESP. They need the citizen's help, too. In many court cases, witnesses are needed to condemn the culprit. However, if the witnesses never stepped up with their courage mustered, the culprits will never be able to get their just deserts.

Perhaps you think it is none of your business. You are very wrong, then. Remember, just like a billiard ball which strikes the others, it may strike you some other time when not stopped. Criminals are a threat to society, and the society includes you, too. A society is just like the human body. Without any part, it will not do. Thus, you must do your part.

Stopping crime is not all to lower crime rates and more peace around Singapore. Why don't we stop it before it happens? Crime prevention is very important in our society. After all, prevention is better than cure.

We can each do our bit of preventing crime from occurring by keeping our things locked and secure, and not giving crooks a chance to steal our things. We can also stop robbery, rape, and other cases by going everywhere with more than one person, and never going to isolated places. Also, we have the right to call the police if suspicious people are hanging around blocks. Sure, they may be lost friends who wanted to visit someone else, but you never know what is their true intent. Never thoroughly trust a stranger, and always be alert at all times.

After all this effort put in to write the composition, I hope you will be able to understand, how it is not only the police's job to stop and prevent crime. The police is nothing much without our help. Even though you may be a teenager who's under restrictions of your parents, you can still do your bit to protect your own property and other's too.

The End. (Applause!)

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