Peace Brothers and Sisters.

Looking out the windows from the 14th floor, the lake is now empty of boats. The water temperature has dipped into the low 50's. The leaves on the trees in Olive Park are changing colors. Yet the lights of Navy Pier still beckon tourists and families to come on down. The ferris wheel still beckons to the paying customers, "Come and see the skyline from on high." And this past weekend an altercation broke out that resulted in a stabbing near that very ferris wheel.

When I was a teenager between the ages of 13 and 18 I got into a number of fights all of which, in retrospect, were avoidable and stupid. These were, each and every one, fist fights that ended up in some bruises, black eyes, fat lips. No one was ever hospitalized from one of these altercations. Somehow, when the teenage years arrive and the testosterone starts to flow, and the young men begin to feel it necessary to prove their manhood, they are more easily provoked. They feel someone has insulted them. They feel someone has disrespected them. They feel that someone has questioned that blossoming manhood. They feel it necessary to fight to prove that manhood.

For as long as human beings have been human beings this has been a normal part of human behavior, as normal as butting heads is for rams. Stupid when viewed from the outside, but nevertheless a normal part of establishing pecking orders. Though we, as humans, have a greater capacity to reason than those rams, there are times in our development when that reason fails us, when hormones and instinct take precedence. If it's just a fist fight, and nobody gets seriously hurt, we can accept this as normal adolescent behavior.

The problem enters this scenario when weapons are introduced into the mix. When knives, guns, baseball bats, two by fours, kicking people when they're down, and use of all manner of blunt objects are introduced into the mix, this becomes a horse of a different color. Suddenly we're not talking about two teenaged boys, pumped full of testosterone duking it out. We're talking about trips to the hospital, trips to the morgue. We're talking about prison time. We're talking about retribution involving drive by shootings, gang attacks, and oftentimes innocent bystanders being hurt or killed.

When was it that the USA became a land where teenage shooting deaths began to take the place of black eyes? Where is the outrage that our sons (and sometimes daughters) have become so inured to violence that the taking of a life is just a way to show that you're a man (or woman)? When did violence of a deadly sort become so widespread that a safe place to take your children for some family fun became the site of drunken altercations and stabbings?

The violence escalates and I am not talking about some 3rd world country here. I'm not talking about Asia, Africa, or South America. I'm talking about the USA. The movie industry echoes this trend with ever more violent movies. The game industry sell ever more violent video games involving killing of foes. The NRA feeds the demand for more guns with their propaganda that tells us we need guns to protect ourselves from violence. The guns become more readily available, legally and illegally. The number of deaths by gun violence escalates. Fights without guns turn into brawls with blunt objects that kill as well. People are beaten senseless and the frenzy continues until the victims are nothing more than a bloody pulp.

I am not a religious man, but the inherent message in Christianity of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your fellow man." This is a message I can buy into whether I buy into the religion as a whole or not. I am not a religious man, but the Buddha's message of "Harm no living thing," is a message I can buy into. I am not a religious man. I am a rational man. If humanity is to rise above its animal origins, humanity has to resist its baser urges. It has to restrict access to deadly weapons. It has to teach our children the value of non-violence.

Our children can never be all that they can be if they are dead. Our children can never be all that they can be if they are locked up for crimes of violence. Our children can never be all that they can be if they continually negate the ability of their minds to forge rational solutions to conflict by giving into their animal urges for violence. Our world has changed. It is no longer acceptable to solve every teenage argument with violence. The violence has become too dangerous. It threatens the fabric of our society as a whole. Rome fell to barbaric violence that came from outside. The USA can just as easily fall to barbaric violence from within. I really don't want to spend the rest of my days locked behind a wall with armed guards because our society as a whole has become so violent and amoral that I cannot move freely within that society. We can stop the violence, but it takes all of us. We all have to buy into this, and make it happen. Peace on Earth. Good will to all men. (Even if they hate your guts and say really rude and disrespectful stuff to you.)