Terrorists, gang members are similar

Brussels is not just a terrorist attack around the world, but a reminder of our own failures as a society. The profile of a terrorist of today fits the same profile of the gang member of today and yesterday.

All of them are young men left behind. They lack structure in their lives, many have no traditional family to speak of, and no job or career they can ever dream of having.

The gang provides a sense of "self" and a purpose. They are given titles and jobs, a sense of importance and belonging, something they have never experienced before. The members I worked with didn't mind dying young. They would be martyrs, held in revere by their peers. Their mother and little sister would be taken care of and they would have a burial.

The international terrorist lacks a future as well. They too are told they will be martyrs.

There was a time economically when these geographic hotbeds of gangs and local terrorism could have been wiped out with corporate investment in education and employment. Oh, there were "attempts," but few went in and most stayed away.

Without an identity and a sense of self on which the young male individual thrives, there will be no future other than that of more terrorism and the "disbelief" and confusion of: How could this happen?

Karen Spencer

Geneva