I have a beard...

Beards are cool.

My dad has a beard…

Eric Clapton has a beard…

Sam Beam of Iron and Wine has a beard…

Ray LaMontagne has a beard…


I temporarily have a beard, but it is only until my chin heals enough that I can shave again. “Why would my chin need to heal”, you may ask. Well I’ll tell you…

There is a bike trail that I take for part of the way home. It goes through a particularly bad neighbourhood. It is quite dark now that winter is coming. As I was coming to a bridge that I ride under, I saw a group of kids off to one side. I didn't think anything of it, but as I got close, one of them stepped out with a big log and whacked me across the face with it. It caught me on the chin quite hard, but it didn't break the skin or knock me off my bike. I was stunned by the blow and I veered of to the side of the trail hitting the wall under the bridge and buckling the front wheel of my bike. I got off my bike and turned to confront the kids, but I quickly realised that there were eight of them and they all probably had knives. So I picked up my bike and carried it away. They didn't follow or try to do anything. Once I was a safe distance away, I called the police, but they couldn't come right away due to more pressing business. I walked to the nearest train station and took the train home. Later that night, the police stopped by our house and took a statement from me. I was quite lucky in many ways. Being hit on the chin was probably the best place because if I was hit any higher up, I might have lost teeth, or broken my nose, or had an eye damaged. Also, they did not attack or try to rob me once I was off my bike; they were attacking people purely for the malicious fun of it. So once I get my bike fixed, I will be taking the road at night and not the bike trail.

A couple of thoughts I have had since the incident…

The neighbourhood where this happened is Peckham, one of the poorest in all of London. It also happens to be the neighbourhood where our church is based. Our church is called Restore Peckham and one of its primary objectives is to be a community that meets the needs and reaches out to this area. This incident helps to confirm that this is the right place for us to be serving.

What happened to me is not an isolated incident. So many teens in England are completely out of control. It is one of the big issues discussed by the government, how to deal with the “yob culture”. You can’t listen to a newscast without hearing the term “yob” (the term yob originally came from a back-to-front slang for boy and is now used to describe any trouble making teen). Headlines are dominated by stabbings, beatings, muggings, bullyings, vandalism, drinking, drugging, fighting, all acts committed by teens. What created this huge void that all of these children have fallen into? Who is to blame: the kids, the parents, the schools, the police? Most importantly, what can be done to improve the situation? People genuinely fear their own children. The fear felt by the adult community simply serves to further isolate the children and thus the “yob culture” is self perpetuating…

JE