|
When some ignorant fool does something stupid like shooting up a school, murdering their family, etc... when it's an adult they claim he was mentally ill... when it is a child or teen the immediate reaction is to blame whatever they'd been doing. Music, games, movies, television... anything to avoid taking personal responsibility for being too wrapped up in their own lives to notice (or care) what was going on.
Did anyone ever stop to consider that the mindset of that person is what LEAD them to participate in these activities so many try to claim are evil? No, it's much easier to shirk personal responsibility and simply blame the media they were involved in. It's not like the Bible hasn't lead people to make some boneheaded decisions. Spanish inquisition anyone?
When people talk about someone killing themselves due to the game they were playing... they never stopped to consider maybe that game staved off them taking such a drastic measure. They're angry with themselves because they didn't pay enough attention to what was going on in that person's life, and instead of taking responsibility for not noticing, they would rather blame someone else. It helps their conscience. It saves them from the realization that they might have been able to stop this person from taking the route they did... that they, at least in their own minds, might be partially to blame for not being able to stop it.
I'm not saying that they SHOULD feel guilty, by any means. I'm saying that the natural reaction is to feel guilty, and the natural reaction to feeling guilty is to blame someone else. If someone else is to blame you can be angry at someone else, instead of being angry at yourself. It gives you a solid, tangible target for your anger and rage.
This issue comes down to personal responsibility for ones actions... our society as a whole has been looking for ways to shirk that responsibility. People suing fast food restaurants because they over indulged themselves and it made them fat... the fast food restaurant didn't open your mouth and slam back fourty burgers a day and a big gulp the size of your upper body. So, why sue them? To avoid personal responsibility.
But, tha above is just my opinion... and one I've thought long and hard on. Life is about choices. You make your own choices. Everything in life influences those decisions... even the wind.
You go out on a sunday morning, planning to fly a kite with your son. There is no wind. You decide to stay in. He starts crying. This goes on for a while, you felt sorry for him. He keeps ON crying. He doesn't stop. You start to get angry. You decide to take him to get ice cream. The engine in your car won't turn over. He gets louder. Your spouse comes home, after a bad day at work. (Sh/H)e promised to do the dishes. Instead (sh/h)e asks you to do it instead. You, trying to help out, start to do the dishes. Your son still crying about the kite and ice cream is sitting in the kitchen, still crying. You start dropping dishes. You yell at him to go to his room. He gets up, and trips... he falls into the plates, and gets cut very badly. Did he bleed to death? I'll leave that up to you. But, it is all because of the wind.
That's simply the way things are. It's all about choices and reactions.
I don't remember who it was that originally penned this... I used it on my MUD's greeting for several years, though... I leave you with this thought.
|