America,What Have We Become

By now,everyone in the country knows about the people who were killed in the school shootings last week.It seems like everywhere you look it is on the news,Internet or radio. We talk about it and mourn for the losses,but do we really stop and think about what this means for us as a country?

What has our world come to? Even if you are one of the people who don't care about the rest of the world,what has happened to our country? When did we become afraid to be human? When did we transform into a place I am no longer so proud to be from?

I remember being a little girl and not worrying about what lurked around the corner. We played with our friends and never worried that one of them might one day snap. Of course there were jokes about this one or that one being a little off their rocker,but the actuality of it happening never even crossed our minds. We didn't know anyone who had mental issues. Our classrooms weren't guarded and their weren't locked doors to keep out the danger.

I remember watching news about war in other countries and thinking how sad it would be to live in fear,but knowing that wasn't how life was for us. We would see something on the news about a missing child or found body and everyone would look around in shock and horror. When they started putting faces on milk containers and showing "Stranger Danger" videos at school, I thought..wow,this is getting serious. Little did I know,that one day my children would live in a world where they weren't safe anywhere.

I remember reading about Anne Frank in school and wondering how in the world people could be so sick and twisted. Now,you pick up the paper,or log onto Facebook,and see horror after horror splattered across the screen and all I can think is why? Why do children bully and torture one another until one of them decide life is no longer worth living? Why do we insist on hate and anger when it serves no purpose other than to fuel the fire of ignorance that is rapidly taking over our world? Why is our first thought always that we are glad it didn't happen to us?

America used to be a country where you knew your neighbor would lend a hand with repairing a broken window or keeping an eye on the kids while you ran to the store.American children used to run the streets until well after dark and our mothers didn't bite their nails in worry that we wouldn't come running back home for dinner. Americans used to hold their heads high and be proud of what we were,not ashamed of the things that happen right on our doorsteps every day. Being an American used to mean that you pulled together in tough times and stood tall against all odds,not killed one another in the streets and schools and filled our children full of hatred.

I am proud to be from a country where people have choices. I am grateful to those that have,and continue to give and risk their lives for us to be free. I am happy that I was able to grow up in a world that I can look back on and wish for now...but ...

I am saddened to see the world crumbling around me. I am ashamed to watch our lives go from loving and carefree to watchful and wary. I am bothered that we can allow this and not fight to recover something of what we used to be. I am afraid that our children will not finish growing up the way a child should..happy and loving..caring and content... not looking over their shoulders for the next evil that awaits them.

What have we become?