The state of the world

It's been exactly a year, I may not be a prolific writer but when I have something to say, sometimes writing is the best way to get it out. :)

It may be that I've been watching too much of The Lion King but it seems like we're missing out on "fathers". I use this term rather loosely because what I mean is I think there are some people that are missing out on what I think a "father" is supposed to be.

There have been two shootings in the last week. One that I joked about, only two people died after all, and with an automatic rifle and a lot of bullets he either had bad aim or it was just one of those things that happened. Only, it happened in my backyard, at a place where I shop and had visited with my family just days before. I can't really explain my reaction but I wasn't heartbroken I was just glad that my family was safe. Then a shooter went into a school, across the country, and killed a number of children, and I cried. I was shocked and saddened. I could relate because I have kids and the thought of someone taking them in that manner would be devastating. It was senseless and I wanted to know how this could happen, what would make someone do something so horrific and no one knew they were capable of something so devastating.

The reactions of others on social media sites and mainstream media has been polarizing and political. Everyone seems to want to find or has an answer to this "problem" and wants to fix it. Except it isn't an easy fix. There are too many things that are broken. You could take away guns, or at least the really powerful ones but we'd still make them, or even more powerful ones to equip our military. Hell, we use drones right now that create casualties at the least expense of life on our side but no such assurances for the people we are going after them with. You could try and convince the entire population if they just believed in God the same way all our problems would be solved. (just typing that seems silly, how possible would it really be to get everyone in the whole world to believe in one thing, we can't even all believe in Santa for heaven sake!) You could address the mental health crisis but most of that is just a band aid and doesn't always get to the root cause of peoples issues. Mental health in and of itself is not something easily "fixed". People are all different and can come to mental illness in varying ways. Maybe it's too many chemicals in our food, maybe it's the media and video games that warps and desensitizes us to violence, maybe it's our need as a society to label everything so people rise to the idea of whatever diagnosis they've been given. Or maybe we're losing the role of "father" in our society.

I have no solution but it seems to me that the erosion of the "father" and of positive, healthy male role models in general has had a devastating effect on our society. I'm sure there are some that would say the erosion of the "family" is the problem but family to me takes many forms and it's the roles in the family that are necessary to teach and raise healthy children. The role that "father's" or even a healthy male role model plays is vital and can't be replaced, even by well meaning single mothers.

A positive, healthy male role model to me is someone that teaches a girl to have self respect of her mind and body. Someone that teaches a boy that it's not necessary to have power over others to feel powerful. That strength comes from knowing when to defend yourself and when to reach out your hand and help someone up. That life is a series of ups and downs and that it's important to accept responsibility for your role and rise to the occasion of whatever life presents to you. That mistakes are life's lessons and sometimes can't be avoided but should always be learned from. And that respect is earned when you can be trusted and respect others.

Can this come from women? Sure, but clearly the impact isn't the same. There is a balance to life and when you remove an integral part of that balance, there is chaos.

I hope our society can find the balance soon, for all our sakes.