My Turn Essay, Research Paper

My turn

You know when children are out there shooting other children, we are becoming lost to ourselves. I know it does no good for each of us to blame the other for we are all to blame. But now it s my turn to do the blaming.

We need to stand back and take a cold hard look at what our world is becoming and say to each other “enough”.

We need to go back to the basics. It is in the music that we listen to, the movies and videos that we watch. It’s in the lack of discipline that surrounds us each and every day, when there is no punishment meted out for behaviour that is unacceptable. How could there be when we see adults behaving in the same manner and believe that this is the way it should be. We use drugs because they see adults using drugs. We practice hatred because we see adults hating and I believe that the youth of today feel that there is no future for them. How could there be when we look all about us at the madness that cannot be explained rationally.

A godless society that won’t allow a child the right to pray in his environment, his school. Teachers that are afraid to speak out when behaviour is inappropriate for fear of reprimand to themselves. Parents that have abdicated their authority to the television set or the computer and never check to see if what their children are watching is appropriate because they are either too busy or too uncaring to do that checking. So many parents are so busy out in the world trying to make the almighty dollar so that they can afford to buy more and more things. The expensive shoes and sports jackets, the latest in electronic equipment and mostly under the guise of wanting to give their children more than they had. But in fact we are giving them less and loosing them in the bargain. Yes, it takes hard work to acquire these “things”. But wouldn’t it be better to have less “things” and give more time to the youth.

Read to them as babies, love them. Play with them as toddlers, love them. Discipline them with love as young adults, be involved in their lives, listen to what they have to say to you and really listen to them when they don’t want to talk to you. Love them. Involve yourselves in their lives. Let them express themselves in ways that aren’t unhealthy, and don’t worry about stifling their creativity if they are expressing themselves in ways that are harmful.

I think that we have gone too far in our definition of “freedom”. I’m sure that the politicians did not have in mind the right to bear Uzi’s and 9mm s when they fought for the right to bear arms. These are weapons of war not home protection and certainly do not belong in the hands of our children.

We are in the age of electronic knowledge but is there any sane reason why we should be able to “surf the net” in order to learn how to build a bomb? Is there anything socially redeeming in publishing “hate” proclamations on the “web”? Our country has overcome diversity and tremendous difficulties to get to the state in which we are now.

The condition of the world is mirrored by the condition of man. We have spiraled out of control and we need desperately to regain that control. We have the ability to change that condition if we are only brave enough and caring enough to do so. I hope that we all will decide that we don’t wish to be at the dawning of man but rather that we have learned something by the horrors around us and use our abilities to change them.

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