It seems like every morning, you cannot turn on the news without hearing more and more horrible stories, such as spewing hatred towards those who serve our country, gun fire, riots, needless acts of hate, and gun shootings against innocent victims. Why do these things happen to the innocent? Why does it seem to occur more now than ever before? It’s interesting because I am sure for many years there were plenty of crimes like this happening but we didn’t hear about them as often. What about this post 9-11 era, makes it easier to accept these horrible acts as every day occurrences? What happened to putting more therapists and social workers in the schools and creating a better environment to help with mental health after Sandy Hook? Why jails are considered one of the leading facilities where people get treatment in today’s day and age? I know there are so many questions here, but that’s how it feels at times. It’s like we are just in a world of questions and no one is giving any answers.
Growing up, I don’t seem to remember hate crimes and gun fire being quite as prominent in this world. Don’t get me wrong, there were bad things happening to good people, and needless horrible things happening, I grew up in the neighborhood where Adam Walsh lived and remember a world prior and after his abduction. I have seen war; I grew up at the end of Vietnam, Gulf War, and this lovely situation we have been in for the past 14 years. I have watched us going from a nation who took care of our soldiers to a nation who doesn’t know how to take care of our men and women who serve, because of the sheer volume that are coming back needing help. I grew up where kids went outside to play, to where children now enjoy talking on their cell phones, Facebook and playing video games, don’t get me wrong those are great, but how many pick up books or even have great conversations without using internet speak anymore? The amount of children and adolescents using drugs grows daily, the rate of people being diagnosed with ADHD and being put on medication rises, and some are misusing the medication. There are many people who are missing what truly is going on with what is happening, and miss the anger, the hatred, the self-loathing, and the frustration that leads to the eventual destruction of others, that then turns into a hate crime.
It’s so very sad to think that we could easily change the world, and yet are unable to change it due to the lack of finances in the school systems, and different state’s funding. I was talking to a friend who is a teacher who told me that classroom spending is out of her own pocket due to financial cuts, and this would be to place items that would be useful in the classroom to teach our students what they need to know to be productive adults. I have friends who are therapists and social workers in the school system who have told me that they have caseloads of 30-60 at multiple schools and sometimes it feels extremely hard to accomplish all they need to because they are pulled in so many directions, 1 therapist for 5 schools is an unrealistic task, and definitely not going to accomplish the mental health stability that was talked about after the Sandy Hook shootings.
The fact is we don’t have any more answers than we do from years ago, much less from this latest horrible act. I do know that people seem to look for their 15 minutes of fame and feel that even the most horrible acts are revered by the world because they end up on television and are talked about over and over, and they might be right, look at George Zimmerman, who has taken his 15 minutes of fame and continues to use it over and over and over. We have to remember as a community, as a nation, as human beings, that violence and hurting one another, whether with words, hatred or guns is not the answer. The fact is we have to come together and we need to work together; get people help, create stability and find a calm to this horrible influx of storms that keep occurring. We need to stop the violence, the hate and the ignorance from being the predominate problem that this country has, and help this nation heal together.