That's exactly what happened several days ago when I was reading the newspaper. A small story buried in the back section of a national newspaper caught my eye with the headline "Tag game goes too far." It was an Associated Press story off the wire services from Copenhagen, Denmark about a Danish youth troop.

The leaders of this youth troop decided to play what can only be termed a very warped night game of tag, in which adults pretending to be Nazis chased around children pretending to be Jews in a simulated concentration camp.

The children wore clothes with the yellow Star of David—which was how the Nazi regime identified and singled out the Jewish population during World War II—and the adults placed swastikas and Nazi-type signs around the schoolyard where the game was being held.

The leader of this Danish Christian youth troop, Jes Imer, acknowledged to a local tabloid that he "may have crossed the line this time" but didn't know whether he should apologize.

All I could think after reading the story was, "Are you kidding?" The fact that Imer even considered the idea was frightening. Not only is the man a racist, a bigot and ignorant but he is teaching a group of young children to follow in his footsteps.

And what's next in this troop's world of "let's pretend"? Putting metal dog collars and chains around the children's necks and playing a game of slavery, with adults as white slave traders and the children as African commodities?

What upset me even more than the act itself was the fact that people throughout the world continue teaching future generations to believe that this kind of behavior is acceptable.

Now more than ever, with so much global turbulence around us on a daily basis, adults need to teach youth that every action—good and bad, large and small—will trigger a reaction. And we need to teach through example.

If we are unkind, selfish, greedy or thoughtless, those around us pick up on it and behave accordingly. But if we are kind, caring and considerate and go about our day as more of a team player than a one-person show, we affect those around us in a more positive way.

When I sat down with my family at the dinner table and discussed this article and its ramifications, my children and husband were equally disgusted by the story and frustrated by the fact that people continue to act insensitively.

It was a reality check for all of us because none of us wanted to believe that these kind of narrow-minded people still roam the earth. But they do, and unfortunately there are more of them than we want to imagine.

So as much as this article disgusted me, it's important that these stories make it into the news—to remind us about where this kind of behavior can lead and that we must prevent it from ever happening again.

Moryt Milo is the editor of The Willow Glen Resident. She can be contacted at 400.200.1051 or mmilo@svcn.com.