Saturday, April 21, 2007

We're all Hokies Now

When I awoke last Saturday, I was in New York City preparing to have a fun-filled day. Within hours I'd be struggling to get a flight out in order to avoid the nor'easter coming in to dump inches of rain on the city - and within twenty-four hours I'd be long goneback to Ohio.
It was a pain in the butt trying to get out of the city because everyone else was trying too. I was quite cranky because my weekend getaway was cut short and I had been inconvenienced.

Inconvenienced, poor little me.

On Monday I awoke to the same news everyone else did, college students slain in class. My immediate thought was that would've never happened to me in college because I skipped so many classes the teachers had problems keeping track of me, let alone a sociopath-madman whose Mama didn't hug him enough.

Humor has saved my life a million times, but I, like the rest of the nation, didn't find anything remotely humorous about this situation.

What is happening in America that people think killing others to gain notoriety is okay? With each incident the violence has escalated and I think its time to start asking, is there an answer to this? Why are children slaughtering children?

I don't claim to have any answers, I wasn't even a psychology major in college, but I have to wonder if society is paying enough attention to the next generation. My generation (I'm 41) was determined to be 'friends' with their kids and do the opposite of our parents. Yeah, we did a bang up job, didn't we?

I don't have kids, but I agree with Hilary Clinton in that it takes a village to raise a child. Our society condones sexualization of children, maximum violence and a myriad of other behaviors that aren't conducive to raising a mature, level headed person. Someone who can make the right decisions and handle the craziness around them without joining the anti-depressant of the month club.

Isn't it time we reclaim the America we love?

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