THOUGHTS ON CONNECTICUT

Here we go again with the gun control debate. With the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Connecticut, we begin again to blame inanimate objects for the behaviors of men. Some in our society seem to forget that a mechanical device can do nothing of itself and requires the hand of man to provide the catalysis for its activity. We can argue the value of gun control, we can implement strict gun control laws, but without addressing the root cause of the problem, our actions will bring about little change. The cause of violence isn't a formed piece of metal, it is the hand that manipulates it. When we address the societal change we have undergone in recent years, we might just find a way to stop or slow the behaviors which spawn such tragic events, and save future families from the grief which now envelopes the lives of the victims of this disaster.

While my heart aches and my thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this event, I can't help but believe that we are pointing the finger at the wrong culprit. In trying to evaluate this and other criminal acts like yesterday's shooting, we must look beyond any device and look at behaviors. It is interesting that the media, politicians, and some of our fellow citizens are quick to accuse Colt, Smith and Wesson, and Ruger, but are slow to look at the role television, movies, other media, and the part our societies changes in values have in bringing about the adverse events which are affecting us with ever increasing frequency. The fact is that over the past several decades, we have placed less and less value on accountability, and values, and have drifted away from the conducts which are necessary for a social societies survival. We are quick to blame objects but in fact we are reaping the results of our social decisions.

When we spend a good portion of our leisure time looking at violence, what do we expect the results to be? We dehumanize our race by creating non-living versions of our neighbors and then spend our time watching them get dispatched into the afterlife in ever increasingly violent ways. How do we expect our fellow citizens to act out? In the past there was an occasional violent portrayal of this type, but in todays world those portrayals are coming at us at an ever increasing rate and in more graphic detail. Do you think our sensitivity to violence might just be lessening? When we and our children spend hours at a time, for days on end shooting, and killing human like or even inhuman game pieces in a virtual world, do we think it will have no long term affect? If we do, we are wrong and our recent history proves that we are wrong.

As we discuss the recent losses in Connecticut, perhaps we should begin to discuss some potential solutions which might have a long term positive affect. Maybe we should reinstate the values which existed before the increased violence began its upswing in our society. Maybe it's time to begin to speak again of God, moral standards and accountability again in our schools and our government. Maybe it's time to talk about the media's role in promoting violence and the impacts that having violent images continuously before us can produce. Perhaps we should look to behaviors and the societal activities that drive them, instead of looking for an easy answer, which will not solve the problem. Unfortunately, I don't think the involved industries will do that, they are too busy blaming an industry which creates inanimate objects.

What we see happening is driven by money, greed and even a more dark motivation designed at changing the values in our country and the world. In order for effective change to occur, we as citizens will have to drive it. The question needs to be asked, What are you prepared to do about it? Are you willing to come out of your shell and lobby for change, are you willing to turn off the television violence, to stop supporting sponsors of violence with your dollars, to stop paying to see violent movies, to purge the violent video games from your home and to begin to reinstate the values that made our society work for two hundred years in your lives and the lives of your children? It is our behaviors which can make the difference. Until we drive what is happening with our wallets, the peddlers of violence in our society will continue to sell their evil to us and our children. Only when they feel it in their bank accounts, can we expect change. The result will be that some in our society and even some of our children will act out and the tragedies of our day will continue. What are you prepared to do about it?