BUCKING THE SYSTEM: BLINDERS WON'T KEEP VIOLENCE OUT OF SIGHT

How many loved ones have to die before we realize that violence is a problem in our society?

My family traveled over 700 miles last week to attend my sister's graduation ceremony. Proud eyes watched my sister accept her diploma from the university president, grasp his hand in a firm handshake, then proudly adjust the tassel on her mortarboard.

Less than 10 miles away, other families looked on with tear-blurred vision as they watched their sons struggling to survive gunshot wounds they'd received at a graduation party the night before.

These young men were doing nothing wrong. They were hosts of a graduation party that was going well most of the evening. They turned two men away at the door because one would not pay the $4 entry fee, claiming he'd already paid earlier in the evening. The men left the building, but came back 15 minutes later.

Instead of paying the fee or finding someone to verify his statement, the man who had refused to pay pulled out a gun and sprayed shots into a crowd of people.

How many of our loved ones will have to die before we realize that violence is a problem in our society?

I don't understand how anyone can justify trying to kill another person over $4. Or over a pair of shoes that may or may not fit. Or any of the other senseless reasons people try to use for legitimizing their destructiveness.

And what's wrong with our society that we are able to waive this type of violence off as an isolated occurrence or as a random act?

There is nothing random about the violence in our society. It's perpetuated everywhere: In the media, in communities large and small and in many homes. Somewhere along the way we put on blinders to keep out violent images, and now we can't figure out how to take them off again.

We are seeing yet ignoring what's happening because it's easier than trying to resolve the problem. But our children are living and breathing and ingesting this madness, and I'm afraid for their future.

The problem is larger than handguns or drugs or explicit lyrics or crooked politicians. The problem is that we've developed a high tolerance for violence and allowed it to enter every aspect of our lives.

I don't have the answer to ending violence -- nobody does -- but I do know that we can curb it. We can and should demand that strict laws be made and enforced concerning firearms on our streets, and we should be willing to pay the price for that protection.

We should also instruct our lawmakers to stop the gunrunners (and drug suppliers for that matter) from bringing those problems into our land -- even if that means our government loses a source of income.

And we should make sure our children understand that there are always consequences, big and small, to their every action.

Maybe if we stand up to our government, and the PAC groups, and the many people who contribute to our violent society, we can change things. We don't have to accept violence, and we certainly don't have to perpetuate it or allow our children to do so.

We do, however, have to make a choice. We have to choose to see the violence and actively work to stop it.

Those students last week lost their opportunity to choose because someone didn't have $4. We cannot keep allowing that to happen.

We have to allow ourselves to hear and see the evil if we ever hope to stop speaking about it.

~Tamara Zellars Buck is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.