Youth Violence: Addressing The Issue and Seeking Solutions

To begin with, youth violence has affected many people in America including me. Youth violence has affected me because there are people very close to my age and to see that they think that violence is the answer to everything it really makes me feel disappointed in our generation. Youth Violence has also affected my life because now I can’t go outside and play all day long with my friends, or even take out my dog for a walk outside at night time because of how violence has increased over the past several years. Youth Violence also affected me because now I must be careful which friends I choose because I don’t want to be influenced by other friends who behave badly or have bad conduct grade or gets into fights all the time. For instance, I remembered when my mom talked about her stories when she was younger about how she played with her friends outside every day, and about how she walked home from school with her friends not worrying about if something bad will happened because youth violence was not that big and not that strong as it is today in America. I also remembered one day that while I was reading a book I found a very interesting quote from Martin Luther King: “Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” I think that Martin Luther King meant that not only physical violence can hurt people but words can also hurt people.

In addition, youth violence can start by basically anything. The causes of youth violence are uncountable. Some of the causes of youth violence are cyberbullying or even something you watch on TV. Also, youth violence can be caused by lack of parental involvement, lack of support of parents, or history of family members who have been part of a gang or just has bad behavior. I feel like the cause of youth violence must do a lot with the children’s parents. I believe that because if parents don’t control the kids or teach them the right behavior then they start to act up, start to act out of control or starts to get into fights or arguments. I also think that other people can influence others to start violence. I think that because there are a lot of teenagers and children out there who have done violence and they think that violence is OK to do just because they’ve seen it on TV or seen their friends do it or even seen their parents do it. For example, now these days there are video games that are basically all about violence and shooting people and I don’t think that’s OK for children to be seeing and I believe the fault is not the children it’s the parents. There is a quote from Dave Liang that says, “We are effectively destroying our selves by violence masquerading as love”. I think that quote meant that people use violence against others as an excuse for the way they show love. For example, a man can hit a woman by arguing and that’s the way he shows love but then again that’s not good at all.

Lastly, I feel like people can do a lot about youth violence including me. Even if it reduces violence by a little I can be very helpful. I can be careful who I choose as friends, and I can tell my friends too. Also, I can tell my friends and other people at my school to have a stronger relationship with their mom and dad and their siblings. I can also tell them to talk to an adult or their mom or dad to help them or if they're concerned about something they see. For example, I and my friends can set up a campaign for drug-free and violence-free to reduce the amount of violence. Another way to help reduce violence is if my friends or I see someone getting hurt, a fight, or even something suspicious we can ask and an adult to help the child or even a teenager.

For instance, there is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi and he says, “I cannot teach you violence, as I do not do it myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before anyone even at the cost of your life”. I think Mahatma Gandhi meant that a person can use violence because that’s what they are used to but if you were raised up in a nonviolence community you will rarely do violence or not do violence at all. To conclude, violence is not the answer to everything even if you get mad at your parents, friends, siblings etc. Also, violence or maybe even words can hurt people does not matter race, color, or family backgrounds. So, we need to stop violence against everyone! No one has the right to hit someone or even insult them in any form of way because at the end of the day we are all humans and no one should nor will be disrespected in any type or form of way. Also, be very careful who you choose as friends because at the end of the day you can be influenced by their bad behavior and end up becoming a part of violence.