LIVING WITH VIOLENCE

“America is, by far, the most violent country in the world when measured

against comparable, industrialized nations. Violence is deeply rooted in our

society and has become woven into the fabric of the American lifestyle.

A culture of violence has emerged that invades our lives at every level,

from our most intimate relationships at home, to our schools and

work environments."

This statement contained in an Annual Report by one of California’s Attorneys General, accurately crystallizes the true status of violence in America. Compared with the other advanced countries, America has the highest rate of prison incarcerations, with more than 2 million prisoners at any time, a number that equates to more than quarter of the world’s prison population. It has consistently reported the highest homicide rates in the industrialized world and even more frightening, more people possess some form of weapon for self-protection than all the rest of the world’s population.

The increasing aura of violence in our society and our awareness of violence around us has changed the way we live in our cities. In more and more areas of our cities, because of the increase in gang formation and drug violence, drive-by shootings, daylight muggings and indiscriminate attacks we are beginning to feel like prisoners in our homes and neighborhoods, afraid to venture out alone. It should be no surprise that some of the fastest growing industries in this country are private security and weapons.

Although we publicly lament the existence of violence in our cities, in our society and in our schools, we also are guilty of sending mixed messages to our children. By encouraging wanton violence on our TV screens and in our cinemas, by highlighting and encouraging violence in sport and entertainment, on the playing field and in the video games, by making and endorsing heroes of crooks and criminals, we succeed in indoctrinating our children that violence in society is acceptable, and worse, by our silence, encourage them to think that violence is a reasonable alternative.

Even our media, by their eagerness and insistence in reporting all the gory details of violent incidents contribute to the glorification of violence as a means of achieving solution. By their endless reporting of incidents, repeated over and over, they succeed in persuading people that such behavior is normal and acceptable, making the next action easier to contemplate. Very rarely is an effort made to register the public abhorrence of the behavior and the genuine resentment of the perpetrators. Society, while recognizing that the perpetrator needs help, must not lose sight of it’s responsibility to punish the action, protect the victims and above all, to take the necessary steps to correct the underlying causes.

Tragically we, as individuals and as a society, have yet to learn the lessons from the actions around us. We continue to witness horrific examples of grossly abnormal behavior among our young people such as the Columbine school massacre, the vicious and brutal attack on the homeless and the gang-like act of publicly setting a boy on fire. Though occurring in different areas and under different circumstances, these and the thousands of others taking place daily, appear to have one constant denominator, the progressive disintegration of society’s standards and responsibilities.

But violence is not a disease that can be passed on from person to person and cannot be treated by simply administering a local remedy. Violence is a reflection of the society and represents the worse aspect of the prevailing attitudes within the society. As I see it, even in the midst of so much advancement in the quality and opportunity in our lives, our society has become too indifferent, too immune to its responsibility towards maintaining the quality and consistency needed to ensure the right standards.

We cannot expect our children to do otherwise when we ourselves abandon our own principles, by continuing to glorify violence, by ignoring the needs of our children, by abandoning our family responsibilities as we spend more time away from the home. When we add to this the scourge of easy accessibility of drugs, reduced controls in the schools, increasing domestic violence and marital breakdowns, and so many other social problems, one should not be surprised of the present epidemic of violence.

And yet the answers to preventing this escalation of violence can be simple and effective if we take the time to recognize the causes and make the effort to correct them. As a society, we need to reconsider how we glorify violence in all it’s forms, most especially in the fields of entertainment, sports and video games. Equally we must take time to provide quality time to our children, to encourage them away from the present exposure to the many negative contacts and to provide positive opportunities for growth. To achieve this we need to change drastically from the present direction, something we loathe to do. We have yet to learn the real truth of the statement made by the noted American author, Mary McCarthy:
“In violence we forget who we are”


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