Nothing Can Be Done

My wife just told me a story that happened yesterday when she was picking up our daughter from pre-school. I think it's a very good example of the way things work here in Lithuania.

While picking up our daughter, she saw an extremely drunk young man enter the grounds of the pre-school (right after throwing up on a car parked on the street right outside). The drunk was heading directly towards a group of children outside. Vaiva knows the teacher, who was earlier our daughter's teacher, and asked her whether she didn't think calling the police would be a good idea. The teacher replied that it wouldn't do any good. She said that teachers and adminstrators had called the police many times in the past because drunks like to hang out in the area where the kids play--there are benches and covered areas--but the police always told them that they had more important things to do. My wife decided to call the police herself, but she understood from the conversation that they wouldn't be sending anyone over to take care of the problem. (Mind you, precinct headquarters [or perhaps even the main headquarters for the city of Vilnius?] is only a couple of blocks away.) Apparently the head of the school has tried to tell them to leave, but they have told her to leave them alone or they'd start breaking the windows of the pre-school! So, nothing can be done.

What's wrong with this scenario? Uh, maybe I'm wrong but just about anywhere else in the 'civilized' world, the head of the pre-school would contact the chief of police and if that didn't get any response, go to the next higher step, in Lithuania the Ministry of the Interior. But no, she's called the police, there was no response, and 'that's the way things are in Lithuania'. 'Nothing can be done.' Excuse me, but that sounds like pure laziness and apathy on the part of the head of the school. She doesn't want to deal with the problem. So, the problem either remains or has to be taken care of by someone else. Well, I think it might be a good thing for me to look into. One battle at a time, and the war can be won. But the problem here is really threefold, isn't it? The drunks, the police, and the administration of the pre-school, the latter two acting as enablers for some odiously anti-social behavior. A society that allows such a thing to occur is really a sick society.

OK, that's my rant for today.