The incubation of violence in our youths

Today is a beautiful day here in Philadelphia and as such, many people are outside in shorts and t-shirts, enjoying the good weather. Today is also a Wednesday, and on Wednesdays I go to visit my little brother (not my real brother, although that would be amazing). With today being the beautiful day it is, my Little and I decided to go outside to play a game of Uno. Within minutes of being outside we were both startled by a loud noise. It turns out that the teachers let the rest of the kids who had lunch at this time go outside too, and who wouldn't on a day like today. But the point of this post isn't to talk about the mere fact that they were outside, but rather the way they they interacted with one another while outside. I know its been a while since I was in 6th grade, but I remember kids spending time outside playing basketball, tag, jumping rope and the occasional game of kill the carrier (if the teachers allowed it).

However, this was far from the case. In fact they were all fighting, nearly all 120 kids. Not wrestling, not an aggressive game of tag, but Roy Jones, Muhammad Ali I'm going to knock you out fighting. It was wild and disturbing, needless to say. The sight was a clear example of the prevalence of a violent culture within America. A culture that is incubated in our youth and birthed in our adults in the form of robbing, raping and domestic abuse. I admit that I don't spend enough time analyzing these situations and as such am not truly aware of the underlying causes, however what I do know is that this is a problem and it needs to be addressed. However, for now I'm going to keep visiting my little brother and observing his interaction amongst his peers, trying to curb his aggressiveness and make a difference one child at a time.