Daily Lessons from Life 23 April 2012 - Saudi boy, 4, kills father over PlayStation: report

"Saudi boy, 4, kills father over PlayStation: report - AFP 23 April 2012

RIYADH: An angry four-year-old Saudi boy shot and killed his father for refusing to buy him a PlayStation, Saudi media reported on Monday.

The Asharq daily, citing police in the southern Jizan area, said the child, aged four years and seven months, grabbed his father's pistol and shot him in the head.

According to the newspaper, the child had asked his father to buy him a PlayStation and the shooting took place after the man returned home without the desired object.

As he was undressing, the man put the weapon down, which the child then grabbed and fired at him from close range."

This is a shocking and tragic news. Did the boy know what he was doing? Is he getting help with this traumatic tragedy? What would become of him psychologically - temporary and permenently?

Lessons for me are:

1. are we letting our young get in touch with so-called technology too early? were the boy once praised as a genius who is able to manipulate high-tech toys?;

2. the circumstance was unique in that not many household, at least in Singapore and many Asian countries, has fire arms as part of the normal accessories of everyday dresscode and life. It is tragic that the father had a weapon that can kill for protection and self-defence, maybe, that was used to end his life by his own child. It must be double shocking to him if he knew what hit him. This simply doubled the pains and loss of those family members who survived this tragedy!!;

3. If this report is true, I have nothing else to add as it is just sickening to think of it. Not a good piece of news. Senselessly tragic.

p/s: the hottest news in Singapore in the past few weeks have been the 60-men who were charged with having commercial sex with an under-aged prostitute. Some said it was brought up to distract the attention from the MRT breakdown that affected thousands of commuters by the authority. Another simple presumption!!

Compare this little piece of tragic news, the prostituion case has to wait.