The wave of revulsion that has followed Sunday's violence at Wellington Oval suggests that something good may actually come out of the whole incident ? if the community now, finally, recognise that the Island has a serious problem on its hands with violent and disaffected youths.

It is important to note that while the incident took place at a football game, it reflects much deeper problems in the community.

Nonetheless, soccer games and concerts provide convenient venues where rights between "town" and "country" are more likely to occur.

The short-term solution is to ensure that these kinds of events have adequate security and that the Police have sufficient intelligence to identify when problems are likely to occur.

But this does not explain why the incidents themselves occur. This requires a deeper examination of the kind of society that Bermuda has become.

Part of the problem, it must be acknowledged, is a more permissive society which fails to show that actions have consequences. Schools that fail to maintain academic and disciplinary standards, parents who fail to teach children the difference between right and wrong and cultural influences that glorify "gangstas" and violence and promote crude attitudes towards women all feed this attitude.

So too does a political culture that has tended to forgive bad behaviour or to give people a slap on the wrist when a short sharp shock would be better.

All of this takes place against an educational background in which the best and brightest of Bermuda's students who can afford it (and this includes many who really cannot) go to private schools at home or abroad, because their parents have lost confidence in public education.

This has created a stratified education system, both in terms of race and class, which has lost parental support and is creating a Bermuda of haves and have-nots.

For public school students, this can lead to an inferiority complex and a sense that they have no chance in life.

The fact that this is untrue is irrelevant. Combined with the attractions of gangs, macho behaviour and the easy money that can be earned from drugs, it is a potent combination that causes the kind of bizarre and seemingly inexplicable behaviour that took place on Sunday.

So where does that leave Bermuda? Only a genuine community effort, fuelled by the shock that has resonated through the Island, will do it.

But this mood ? like "the Fabian spirit" ? will dissipate quickly if it is not harnessed.

A carrot and stick approach is essential. Showing young people the opportunities that are available to young Bermudians with hard work, good training and application and the thousands of role models who have succeeded is part of the answer.

But the the other half requires giving the Police the help they need when a crime is committed and then showing people that there are severe consequences when they break the law is the other.

But the time to act is now.