Friday, a 22 year old one-time star of The Voice, Christina
Grimmie, was shot while signing autographs after performing for about 60 to 100
people. This past week a Stanford college athlete was given a slap on the
wrist by a male judge for savagely raping an unconscious young woman. Two
weeks ago, a record 21 crimes were committed over the weekend in neighboring
New Orleans. In the small, peaceful town of Natalbany three people were
recently murdered.
Daily our newspapers report more and more criminal activity
in neighborhoods where residents have lived for years in a totally crime-free
environment. In the recent primaries held for selecting nominees
for the highest, most respected office in this nation violence erupted.
Obviously more and more individuals have adopted the belief that there is no
room for divergent thoughts, and human life is no longer of value.
It is apparent that individuals in our society have become
so selfish in their desires for immediate gratification, and acceptance of
their ways of thought, that anything that is perceived as getting in their way
is simply dealt with through acts of violence.
Our citizens are certainly not lacking in their causal
hypotheses and solutions for dealing with this acidic societal
environment. The blame games include the President, the liberals
advocating what some perceive as an anti-religion agenda, the ACLU, government
entitlement programs, the breakdown of sexual mores, the proliferation of social
media, racism; the list is voluminous. Additionally, the most vocal
solution involves arming our society for protection. We now allow
university students and public school teachers to pack guns, and pass laws not
requiring permits for hidden weapons. Sadly this is not a solution but
simply a reaction.
We as a society need to come to grips with reality and put
the blame for this societal ailment where it rightfully belongs, on the
breakdown of family values and parents’ use of the ’entitlement philosophy’ in
raising many of the children that now compose our younger adult
population.
Sadly, today we have still not acknowledged our mistakes and
continue to feed this violent society.
How many families sit down
as a unit each night for dinner uninterrupted by any type of media? How
many parents simply tell their children ‘no’ without the need to reason with
them or use widely accepted diversion techniques? Why do we feel the need
to instill in our children that they are ‘entitled’ to everything? For example,
why do we give trophies to everyone on the losing sports team just so they
won’t feel bad even though they don’t deserve a trophy? We let young
children decide what they will wear to be stylish or what they want to eat at
meals. If the young child wants his/her sandwich cut in triangles rather
than squares, we throw out the square ones because he/she is entitled to get
the triangle shapes wanted. Today’s parents love electronic devices
that allow them to interact less with their children to the degree that auto
manufacturers now have Wi Fi hot spots in cars so that our children can
play mindless games or watch a movie on their media devices while traveling
which allows parents to avoid all interaction with their children.
Additionally, parents allow their children to post unregulated material on
Facebook and other social media groups because they feel their children are
entitled to have their personal freedom and privacy. Parents pay large
sums of money for those prom dresses because mommy and daddy’s little girl is
entitled to be the belle of the ball.
In parents’ quest for wanting the best for their children
they continue to blur the line between that desire and instilling in their
children a narcissistic–like self-esteem, making them think the world revolves
around them coupled with a desire for immediate gratification.
And that’s where we function today, a society filled with
many individuals who feel they are ‘entitled’ just because they exist.
But unfortunately these entitled folks also have guns.
Please, let’s stop blaming others and assume
responsibility. Our society can be healed over time because parents can
choose to raise their kids as contributing members of society rather than
takers
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