Title: School Killings / Society's Present Challenge!
Category:
In the wake of all the recent school killings and teen violence, I would like to suggest seven proposals for our society to try.- We must renew a true respect for life and the dignity of every human person born and unborn. We must stop the millions of abortions occurring legally in our society every year. We must stop thoughts of euthanasia and glamorization of people like Dr. Kavorkian.
- We must restore respect for the traditional two parent family as the gold standard in raising children. At the same time, we must support single parent families with children in mind. All children deserve good health care, access to mental health care if they need it, and a loving society that believes in being our "brother's keeper." Because we are truly interdependent, all created and loved by the same God, we must not write off anyone in our society and leave them in a hopeless situation.
- We must return to prayer in our schools. Our country was founded on Judeo Christian values and we desperately need to return to them. Students and teachers who pray together regularly are more considerate, loving, and respectful. I believe they are much less likely to become violent against each other.
- Schools need our support in every way. Teachers deserve better pay and respect. All schools need stronger local support of both parents, businesses, local government and even the elderly. Our children truly are our future and they need all of us to better support their formative years.
- We must make a concerted societal effort to decrease violence exposure to our youth. This includes video games, TV shows and movies, and ridiculous violence like the "Jerry Springer Show", which unfortunately is watched by millions of latchkey kids every day after school. There is plenty of solid evidence now that constant exposure to visual violence does lead to troubled children acting out their problems in a violent way.
- We must take an honest look at our attitudes about guns and the right to bear arms. I believe in the right to bear arms for self-defense, also, the right to have appropriate guns for hunting or even target practice. Unfortunately, this has gotten so far out of hand with literally hundreds of millions of guns floating around in homes throughout our society. This is just too great of a temptation for the many troubled youth who are grabbing these guns and shooting their friends right in their own schools and communities. Tougher gun control with a better registering and doing away with all multiple repeat weapons except for trained professionals, such as police, would be a move in the right direction (in my opinion). Nobody shooting a deer or rabbit needs a Vietnam war style machine gun.
- We must continue a serious effort at drug control at every level and successfully win the battle against drugs which drives so many people over the violence line and creates a hopeless addicted situation among countless millions of young people and their parents in our society.
All of these are certainly idealistic solutions; but with God's help and with a true societal decision to move in these directions, they could be accomplished. I hope and pray they are.
M.D. NEWS Magazine
South / Central Louisiana Edition
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