Editor’s note: Patrick Chierichella, a member of the board of directors for The Rose Brucia Educational Foundation, is a retired science teacher from the Sachem Central School district. Pat brings his extensive knowledge of curriculum writing to the foundation in an effort to expand the content of the stranger safety program. The following is a blog entry he wrote on RoseBrucia.org this week …
By Patrick Chierichella, Educational Coordinator
New Year’s resolutions take many forms: losing weight, repairing family relationships, reconnecting with old friends, beginning and adhering to exercise regimens, enrolling in some adult education program to learn a new language, saving more and spending less. You can add to this list, of that I’m sure. Maybe you’ll work on your golf swing, lower you handicap. Perhaps your serve or volley can be improved in that tennis game of yours. It just takes time and dedication. You know the old chestnut? How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! Practice! Practice!
I’ve found myself watching some movies, old and new, as I wait for the flu to exit the family. One is the Fritz Lang classic, M, from 1931. This German film recounts the efforts by both the police and the city’s criminal element to apprehend a child murderer. The beginning of the film illustrates feints, shams, ploys used by the abductor to lure the children to their fates. He uses simple gifts of candy, smiles, and balloons as offers for the children to willingly walk away hand in hand with him. The scenes of the abduction are harrowing. The pursuit of the fiend is intense. The last scene focuses on mothers of murdered children clothed head to toe in black, their faces alone offering any respite from the stark black backdrop, admonishing the audience, “You must watch out for the children.”