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The Crime of Robbery, Our Children and Financial Literacy

May 17, 2011 News

Nation Sows…Nation reaps

By Sharryn Dawson –
Do we need to ask statistical experts about the towering crime rate in our country to realize that we are struggling with crime as a nation? Isn’t the news already out that crime is one of the major factors decaying our society?
The crime of robbery is important especially because this crime is directly related to ill-formed concepts about money and the legitimate ways it is earned. When someone commits the crime of robbery the next likely action is to trade that lifted possession for money.
The idea that the individual is driven to acquire money is not the issue however, as it is quite normal for people to want to acquire money. The real issue rests on the fact that persons who engage in this action seem to believe that money does not have to be legitimately earned in order for it to be acquired.
Robbery is at the top among other highly unacceptable and preventable crimes in society simply because it is mixed with avoidable misconceptions about money (among other factors); misconceptions which could easily be erased with financial literacy in the formative years of our children.
The hardest part of this reality is that some of our children do grow up with many avoidable misconceptions about money and some do morph into wayward criminals described above who rob and trade lifted possession to get money.
The reason why robbery is such a dangerous crime is because those committing this crime, in trying to succeed at getting money (or possessions that can be traded for money) stop at nothing to do so.
The end result is… more heinous crimes committed in the one instant. If we endeavour to educate our children from early about the principles of money and the proper means of acquiring it we may be able to transform this.
As a nation we reap what we sow; if we sow financial literacy in our children we are likely to reap financially literate adults who understand that money is earned by working lawfully. If we don’t, we will likely end up where we are now…or worse!
Which prospect are we banking on as a nation? It is not too late to take this core value on nationally; if we begin to educate our children about the basic principles of money and the legitimate ways it is earned while re-establishing this value in the wider society, possibly the crime of robbery may stand a chance of decreasing in our country.
Financial literacy in the early stages not only preserves the financial future of our children but also the quality of life they will live when they become adults. Prevention is better that correction…sow in children from early the basics about money and we will all reap the benefits as a country in the future.
Sharryn Dawson is a Licensed Financial Advisor & Author

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