The Shattering of America

To memory, from the view out of my Florida window the pain and destruction in our country, has never been greater. Very real and chilling events seen by every American including our children have shaped their young worlds; the attacks on the World Trade Centers and The Pentagon brought the first reality of war to our then not so worldly youth. Disturbing news feeds brought the senseless Los Angeles riots including the deaths of some sixty people and a $1 billion in damage into the very living rooms of every American household. The very real images of destruction and violence sifted into their then game and music/video thrived lives. The guns were no longer only in movies, catalogs, and games. In the 1980s rock music was preached to be evil and most bands were labeled satanic, often to the dismay of the band members themselves. Then with the arrival of greater technology, the WWW was born 1991 bringing with it an ability to reach into every single home and every child's' bedroom. Strangers from the world over suddenly and increasingly filled American homes with their content while simultaneously more and more parents worked long hours and sometimes multiple jobs to support all that new and advanced world around us had to offer. Ironically, kids no longer learned from or sought guidance from parents, teachers, spiritual leaders. The answers to all of life's questions and dilemmas could be found in any appealing format via the new gods; Search Engines. With the onset of America entering the Gulf War, with the Los Angeles Riots, and the ending of the Cold War images of conflict strife and pain flooded into children's lives while all too often mothers and fathers struggled in one parent households either from a spouse serving in the military abroad or from the rise of divorce. The companion and comforter of our children became the computers and devices increasingly bringing more technology and freedom in boundless lives of latchkey kids. Violence in video games increased as did mature content and alternative realities. Kids could soon build their own entire worlds on the web or desktop computers. Today our kids live in those worlds of their own creation everywhere they go with laptops, tablets, mega powerful phones and web easy giant screen TVs and monitors. Technology replaced role models, heroes, moms, dads, ministers, rabbis, priestesses, priests, clergy, teachers, principles, law enforcement, coaches, and even caring neighbors. Where did we as a civilization think all of this would take us as families, as communities, as cultures? Todays' youth have less reaction to events around them than in younger generations with sensory overload comes sensory numbness. Once superheroes were honorable and always fought to do good. Today many of these characters are foul-mouthed, vulgar, angry people living on the fringes of society who clearly display a general hate of people in general. Not all...but in an ever increasing number. In this new, high tech world we adults are horrified following the realization that our children are addicted to porn by ninth grade or that our daughters seek to make themselves as sexually available to thugs in their schools or towns because it's not only acceptable now but because it's the 'in' thing to do. Videos show the girl who shows the most; who has the most to show as the one who gets the guy but is he worth getting at all? Often enough, no he isn't. Back in the day, the dangerous guys were Johnny Cash, Elvis, or years later the adorable guy Johnny Depp played in the movie Crybaby. So to be honest with ourselves can we truly blame continued violence on lawmakers and politicians? I am disgusted by so many of the so-called news agencies cluttered across not only broadcast networks but by those littering the WWW. You can choose how you want to view your world news according to a political party, religion, by lifestyle or ethnicity as easy as click, click, click. Your news will be brought to you in the context of your aforementioned choices as opposed to news being FACT, real fact. So no matter how you 'take' your news it is with tribulation that we see broadcast giants using horrible tragedies to further their agendas. It is again, disgusting to watch the pain of children following the murders of their friends and teachers be exploited and marketed by bully agencies. In the last two days, I've had a front row seats to a broadcast company that brought twenty-four-hour news reporting to life as a modern founding father to be in the constant 'know' unconscionably excite and magnify the grief, terror, and trauma of victims of yet another school, mass shooting. Astoningshly, I viewed a network who until the recent year or so was my go-to for what was going on in the world around me despicably compound and antagonize the hurt and agony of a grieving mother for their political views. These shootings and senseless killings will continue until we as parents, neighbors, teachers, authority figures, and spiritual leaders take the responsibility of caring for the youth in the world and their needs. It isn't gun laws we should be fighting over or guns themselves we should be fearing. America, it is the empty heart and neglected soul of children of all ages who educate themselves and socialize with others only through devices and online. Kids will continue to lash out in pain at others until they are heard or until their anger and loneliness are shared by everyone around them by whatever physical means they can enact. Every adult in every country is responsible for shaping the lives and minds of our youth. Yet what we see in headlines is adultery, alcoholism, drug addiction, and pornography attributed to so many in the public view. If our children only hear those messages loud and clear we as a culture have lost our future. More importantly, if we don't show kids and teenagers how to heal, how to love and more importantly how to be loved they will continue to harm innocent animals, children as well as adults around them. It is no coincidence that most serial killers have in common the same traits as school shooters while their actions unfold later in life. Make no mistake the onset of destructiveness began as youths. The President, Congress, Governors can all only do so much and they absolutely cannot parent America's children. September 11th, 2001 was truly devastating but we as a country became stronger for a time after. Every horrible school or mass shooting weakens not only our reserve as a nation but it shapes and molds a more hostile and dysfunctional younger generation. Stop blaming. Start nurturing. Every young mind is watching not only what happens in the world but just as importantly they are seeing and learning from the means and methods of 'how' adults act and react to every event; every mistake; every atrocity; every tragedy. Every adult has the vastly important job of showing children, teenagers and young adults how to live, love and nurture life around them whether a parent or not. In like-mindedness, the media has the responsibility of reporting the news and does not have the right to exploit the tragedies of our cities, towns, and states to promote their agendas or to lash out at other organizations FOR ANY REASON. I am a 'newsaholic' and I am sickened by what I'm seeing through my open Florida window right in my backyard by those who must be held accountable. Report the news don't shape it and mold into what aids personal or company opinion. Americans cannot lose the all-important ability to weigh out and judge for ourselves the events around us. Can we as a culture really allow media to form our own opinions, thoughts, ideas, dreams? It is that very prowess that is shattering America.