Mustangrider:
“but i still feal that having ppl learn true Emuna and Bitachon will work far better than trying to make them “Scared Straight””
You’re entitled to feel that way, but do you have any experience with this?
Yes. It’s completely okay to have yirah. Why, it says countless times in the Torah that one should fear Hashem. We also must have ahava. But in case you don’t know, most OTD teens CRAVE tough love. They WANT to be directed and guided. Sometimes, they even want to be yelled at. They feel so lost and alone – they’re in DIRE need of some yirah.
As Toi said, there are lots of teens who go off simply out of taava. Our world today is really dangerous. With Internet, a blackberry or a bad friend it’s pretty easy to slide down that slippery slope.
And those who have difficult parents and/or siblings etc. CONSTANTLY hear that “Yeah, nebach. Ploni almoni went OTD. But he’s really not to blame. He had a difficult childhood, y’know.” And so, 14, 13 and even 12 year old kids are going OTD.
I think it’s time it became UNACCEPTABLE to go OTD.
I’ve a relative who had the worst life you can ever imagine. Insane abusive parents, divorced, remarried lost his second expecting wife tragically plus, plus. And he said, “I fail to understand how people go OTD. Why, I’ve nothing left in this world, but Hashem. Should I leave Him too?” Why do you think he said that? Because he has yiras shomayim AND ahavas Hashem.