Well, it's been a while since I felt compelled to add something to this blog. Not much happening in our small community, but not so in our neighboring town, Las Vegas. The past three weeks have seen many a news program devoted to reports of shootings at or near several high schools there, and it does not seem to be getting any better.
What is wrong here? What is becoming of our society? Sixteen-year-olds are shooting one another, and for what reason? As usual I have my own opinions, and they probably differ from yours, but, hey, it's my blog!
First, am I an anti-gun, anti-NRA nut? Not by any stretch of the imagination. You see, I was raised in small rural communities in Oregon where to own a gun and to use it for sport and protection were a way of life, second nature if you will. The big difference was that we were trained to use the weapons properly and safely by our fathers, uncles and Granddads. The guns were not just left laying around. And if we killed an animal, we damned well ate it. Hunting was a secondary food source.......same with fishing. Even now I own a gun. Remember, we live in a small rural community where wild coyotes still roam free. We have even lost one of our dear pets (cat) when he strayed too far from the house at the wrong time. Now we have a chain link fence to keep the pets in and the wild critters out. Still, we have a gun in the house, just in case.
But what about now? Kids get their hands on guns and express anger by going out and shooting people. I do believe there is something to the 'suggestions' that TV, movies and those crazy video games desensitize our youth from the meaning of taking someone else's life. Kids kill freely on the video games with no remorse, and it seems there is no remorse in real life killings either. It's just a game.....a deadly game.
Just how bad is it? The other night I was watching the news when a report came on that back east or midwest.....I forget where.....about some kids who were having a snowball fight. One of the snowballs was over-thrown and it hit a neighbor. The neighbor went to the the house and got a gun. When the young boy tried to apologize to the neighbor, the boy was shot and killed!
Even communications are in trouble. This morning, Dear Abby had a letter about a girl whose boyfriend ended their relationship (dumped her) by sending her a text message! He didn't even have the guts (read that as 'communication skills) to face her and tell her why!
What has the world come to? What can be done about it? Do we adopt a gun law where no one can have weapons? That is not the answer, Folks. Bad guys will always be able to get weapons, gun law or no gun law. All a gun law would do really is take the guns out of the hands of people like you and me, and the bad guys would still have theirs. Great!
We have to get back to teaching our youth what life is all about. We need to show them the way, like we did in the past. If you want to get rid of something or enact a law, ban the video games. Make death mean something again. Make life mean even more.
It used to be that when women gave birth, and they were working at the time, a maternity leave of weeks (even months) was not uncommon. Now, some mothers are back to work in what seems like hours. We leave child rearing up to baby sitters, pre-schools, teachers, and, of course, TV, movies and video games. Let's just entertain them and get them out of our way. We don't have the time for our youth anymore, so they cannot and do not learn our values.
Is it any wonder we are headed in the direction we are with today's society? I have a hunch that it will get worse instead of better. And who is to blame? We all are.............Think about it.
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