Media

As we look at our society and culture as a whole, we see that violence does exist in vast amounts. The problem of violence is compounded by the constant saturation that media coverage often provides. The media creates an almost artificial world for young people who do not have a single family member or extended family member to provide any small measure of love and kindness towards them. Naisbitt suggests that the boys involved in the Columbine shootings were absorbed in an environment full of violence. By means of television, movies, video games and other sources of electronic entertainment these boys became engrossed by aggression and violent behavior (81). While Naisbitt says that it is the violence that drove these boys to commit such a heinous crime, he never proposes that it could have been the lack of family that led these young boys to violence. Often we do not see that people are driven towards violence of the media because of family neglect.

Overall, we need to create an environment in which parent and child can easily live and play together, so we can draw their attention away from this enticing entertainment. If we find that it is often the “latch-key” children whose parents work that more quickly turn to violence, then can we create programs to keep these children otherwise occupied? Violence serves as a diversion and a source of entertainment for children, but if we are able to create an enriching setting for our youth, one which places family on a high level we can often avoid many of the violent acts which do take place.

When we live in a world where we can feel loved and supported, we do not take wrong turns as often. It is not necessarily a family that one needs to maintain a violence free existence, but the inclusion of loving and caring people in one’s life. Perhaps more thinking about how to build family outside the traditional definition of the perfect family is necessary in one’s own quest against violence. When I think about my own transition from living in a small town just outside of Boston, a relatively safe large city to the completely new city of New Orleans, I recognize a basic truth about family. As I find myself in an entirely different part of the country engrossed in an entirely different culture, I often feel unsafe and alone in this city, new to me which I call my home .