A time of reflection, meditation and action

On Dec. 14, America suffered yet another act of unexplained tragedy.

Since that event, people have shared moments of anger, expressed varied thoughts and suggested many steps that we can make as a society.
I agree that we need to have an opportunity to openly discuss the cause and or causes and possible remedies.
But before doing this I think that we need to reflect on our culture as a whole.
We can no longer treat the symptoms but need to look at the problem and state it accurately.
As I began to reflect on this tragedy, many thoughts were going through my mind.
I remembered a time while attending undergraduate school that we were required to read a book titled “Soul on Ice,” written by Eldridge Cleaver.
I can remember him discussing violence as a part of our American culture.
One of his quotes basically stated that violence was as American as apple pie.
This quote has stuck with me for over 40 years.
He went on to discuss his views as to how we teach violent behavior through the media.
As our society advanced, his simple analogy has become even truer today. We now have at our disposal all the social media that wasn’t even thought about when he wrote the book back in the 60s.
We have PlayStations, television and movies in which people are harmed or killed and then reappear either in a new game or television show.
Despicable and hostile behavior is displayed everywhere, even to include our politicians, who always state that it is just politics or it is a way to negotiate.
The problem then comes back to what is perceived, what is real and what is make-believe or what is part of the process.
The first solution that came to the front was all about gun control.
I will neither discuss the merits for or against this because to do so would result in an exercise in futility.
One of the main issues is that people kill people, not the weapon.
I realize that guns kill approximately 10,000 people a year, which represents 68 percent of all homicides, yet automobiles kill approximately 40,000 people per year.
To continue to debate guns or other causes only ignores what is the true cause and possible solutions.
If we really look at our society, what is very evident is the lack of moral values that we possess as a society today.
Over the last 50 years or so we have lost our way in some of the most basic values that have made our country great.
We have turned away from our creator, who gave us 10 basic values, that if followed would not allow these kinds of things to happen.
Over the last 40 or 50 years we have taught our children a world that only exists in fantasy.
Television and video games teach us that the more people we kill the more points we obtain.
Television shows depict the dark side of mankind from the perspective that the most obnoxious, greedy and tough survive.
If we could only remember the 10 basic core values, we might prove that we as a society could again become great.
We need to teach respect towards each other.
People may have different opinions from us, but that doesn’t necessarily make them evil or wrong.
Just look at some of the disagreements that we have had in the last 10 years, the general outcome is that those who do not agree with our particular view are racists, scabs, evil minded and greedy.
We all belong to the biggest class of people in the universe and that is the human race.
Together we can accomplish everything, divided we will fail at everything we attempt.