Is Violence in America Becoming More Common?
I would like to think that we as a global society are evolving into a more compassionate and caring people. I know that some people are moving in that direction, but unfortunately too many seem to moving in the opposite direction. TV news and social media is filled with scenes of people violently attacking others both physically and verbally because they disagree with each other on issues of race, religion, and political beliefs. Anyone who watches the news or connects on social media can not avoid these scenes. England has just suffered two more violent attacks by a group of religious extremists. This group who call themselves ISIS has some perverted view of the Islamic faith and those who disagree with them must die. Their mentality is not much different from other radical organizations such as Al qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban, the Nazi Party, Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, the KKK or other American right wing white supremacists groups, or violent left wing activists groups .
There is a song that resonates with me and comes to my mind whenever I start to judge or condemn others. It starts out, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” The religious mentality that I am right and you are wrong because you go to a different church, temple, or mosque than me, or you don’t go to church at all, or you don’t believe what I believe, in my opinion, is the root cause for the terror that these extremist groups are creating today. It is a mentality that closes one’s mind to trying to understand others.
When I was ten years old, a classmate told me that if I did not go to his church and believe what his church believes that God was going to throw me into a lake of fire and I would burn in hell for all eternity. When I went home, I told my mother, a devout Presbyterian, what the classmate said. I asked her if God was going to throw me and all the Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Presbyterians, and other people who did not go to his church into a lake of fire. My mother smiled at me and said, “Absolutely not, God is love.”
To survive as a free society, we as a nation must defend ourselves from the violent actions of the extremists. But in day to day personal interactions with others, why don’t we try listening to each other’s opinions, smile at everyone, especially at those who may look different from us, lend a hand to those in need, and give thanks that we were born as the person we are. Help tear down the walls that divide us and let peace begin within each of us. And the next time you cross paths with a cop, smile and thank him/ her for their service. They are only here to be truly helpful. Until the time when the world is fully living in peace, there will be a need for peace officers.
