I've read numerous commentaries on the video -- in the various places online where I've noticed it -- where people are saying that the parents shown in the video are "traumatizing" their daughters, or simply just acting too harshly. I was surprised (yet sadly not too surprised at the same time) that some people also commented that the issue serving as the central focal point of the video's message is not really a big deal, and that there really aren't that many kids who would actually fall into the dangerous "stranger danger" traps. They say that this type of occurrence is not as common as we may think.
But let me tell you something here. Let me tell you a story real quick:
When I was 16 or 17 years old, I was in the Nevada All-State Honor Choir. Hmm...or hadn't All-State happened yet? Maybe it was the preceding regional Honor Choir? Heh. No matter. The point is that a few friends and I were on lunch break near the UNLV campus, at the local In-N-Out burger joint.
There were two, maybe three of my friends (they were girls) eating with me at my table. We were minding our own business until these two guys -- they looked college age -- walked over to us and stood at our tableside. They said, "We're selling some perfume, and we've got a bunch of samples outside, in the trunk of our car. Would you like to come smell some and see what you think?"
I felt a jolt in my stomach. I think my friends did too. Fortunately we were feeling wise enough to politely decline the guys' offer. They left us alone. (Thank our lucky stars!)
Almost as well as I know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I know that those guys weren't up to any good that day. It was too odd and out-of-the-ordinary of an invitation for it to be normal, wholesome, and harmless. Surely it would've been a dreadful situation for me and my friends, had we chosen to go with those guys to their car.
I've never really taken any time to think back on that day and imagine what it would've been like, had my friends and I chosen to accompany those guys. I guess I never *wanted* to think about it. But when I saw this YouTube video for the first time yesterday, I finally did imagine -- for the first time. If the guys would've drugged me (and/or my friends) (probably with the "perfume"), grabbed me, and driven away with me... Oh! How I would've desperately longed for my parents to be there to save me. And I am absolutely certain that, if it were to have actually been this here Coby Persin prank played on me to teach me a lesson... Sure, I would've been scared silly to tears and scarred for a little while. But I know I would've been so very, very grateful.
My opinion is that the shock factor was key, in this Coby Persin social experiment, to drive the point home to the young girls' hearts (and to viewers' hearts), to help them realize, in a pretty tangible light, that the terrible choice they were willing to make truly would have had the most awful and freakiest of consequences.
Ladies and gentlemen, this stuff is real and it happens all the time. All. The. Time. It could've happened to me that day at In-N-Out.
Teach your children about these dangers. Teach them that scary stuff like this can happen not only online, but "offline" as well. Teach them what to do, and be their loving and continual guide. Now that this video is here, I highly recommend showing it to your kids who are showing interest in social media.
We've all got to be careful, to be wise. We must teach what is right and be open to learning. This is serious stuff.
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