Morality And Guns Today Essay, Research Paper

I realize you cannot legislate morality. I agree with that 100 percent. Yes, saying things like “Thou shall be moral” is foolish, but other things can be done. We have to get back to our roots and become more civil and moral. Throughout recent history our society has continually loosened its moral bonds until we have arrived at the ‘everything goes’ attitudes of today. This loosening simply has to be reversed. Let me say that this will be a difficult task, but our society MUST put common sense and civility forefront of today’s efforts nationwide. It will be harder to fight then any war. We must have an awakening or things will continue to go downhill. Would you agree on that?

First of all, I do not have all the answers on this. We could start by looking at our past and seeing what worked when. I am not talking about slavery, segregation, etc etc. What I am talking about is how families “worked” and how people responded to each other, how neighbors responded to each other. We must explore the brotherhood that existed between friends. We must look back to look forward. I think common sense plays a big issue in this. In today’s society there is this idea that we must be politically correct all the time. Remember (or hear) of a time when everything wasn’t regulated, and was NOT tied up by the government’s beaucracy, and forthere DID NOT destroy personal responsibility? All laws leave some people out. Without this over regulation, people were not excessively left out by ‘red tape crafted divisions’. All of this ties into morality. I think people have become less responsible. Seeing the increased role of government in everyday life, too many parents have dedicated the government to educate their child. Less time is spent with each other. Less of that famous ‘bonding time’, less family cohesiveness, less family traditions. What has filled the void from the absence of this ever-so-valuable time? Media has filled the gap. This includes everything from TV, movies, video games, music, etc etc. Afterall the media is led by people who grew up without knowing what is right or wrong, just like the people watching it. You now have a society in which few know what is right and wrong because this cycle continues on faster and faster. Believe it or not, I believe there was a time that had universal morals. These include lots of small things, but they are what consisted of the moral foundation we have lost. These small things include street manners, table manners, specific courtesys each directed toward men and women, clothing courtesys, trustworthiness (ever hear of the time when a handshake was worth more than a signature?), a respect of each others doings and business, the Golden Rule, spoken courtesys…the list goes on and on. It is not the media’s fault only, they are only the most visable layer. WE, and I repeat WE, the society, are the ones that tolerated or even let the media do something questionable to begin with. WE are the ones that watch and listen to their programs, WE are the ones who give them money, WE are the ones who failed to voice our concerns on something they were airing, etc etc. Now, in a society that has evolved to which ‘everything goes’, Hollywood doesn’t think twice about showing negatively-influencing movies, or the record companies and singers (especially rap, rock, etc…) don’t think twice about recording songs about things like getting your girlfriend pregnant and driving the car off the bridge while she’s screaming in the trunk–things like that. What’s even worse is that, like I said earlier, WE let it happen, we, as a society, do not have enough balls to say Enough is a Enough!!!!! Afterall, it would be politically incorrect (going back to what I said earlier) and might offend someone right?? How does all this tie into guns? WE, as a society, would rather blame something inhuman. Right now, we would rather blame something that merely indicates the state of ourselves. For decades we have been slipping down the path of neglecting our present and future moral foundation. We are right now getting a taste of what that neglect has reaped. Right now we would rather blame an object–the gun, something we have made for five centuries–for our own irresponsibility.

Have I yet to give any specific, direct way to accomplish what we simply have to accomplish? No. Like I said I do not have all the answers. We must first realize what must be done in order to fix the problems. I do believe the best way to restore civility is to start with yourself. After you have started with yourself, start with others. Importantly, set examples. Not only one, but many. In today’s society where anything new and anything different someone in doing gets attention, it is especially important to set good, moral examples. Others just might try it. Spend time with your family–and continue to do so, go somewhere quiet everyday, relax, use manners, write your legislators on this very issue, take your family vacation, eat together, etc etc, the list is long and varied.

The main point is that it is OUR fault for letting society be in the condition it is in now. We need to be more self-responsible. Guns, and other tools, are only indicators of how bad our society is. Banning them will not help. It may or may not affect crime rates, but, either or, things will continue to degrade if we continue to foolishly neglect the essence and base of our moral foundation. I believe our Founding Fathers had a pretty good idea of what was right and wrong. Many of their truths were expressed in our Constitution and Federalist Papers. Why was there very few, if any, mass-murderers back then? Why was there so few unmarried mothers and fathers? Why was their little public violence? Why was there so little general hatred? Why was there so little deceit? Why were there so few broken families? {all this with guns in every household} Why?….because society–the people and communities themselves–simply DID NOT tolerate immorality and its beginnings back then, and WE shouldn’t now! Looking at our past is the way to light our future.