Our Paradoxical Violent Society

News broke today that President Obama is working on a $500 million effort to curb gun violence. Greater detail will be given to background checks, some guns won't be sold, and greater law enforcement in the schools are part of this effort.

Stepping back and looking at our society it's as if we are fighting against ourself and treating symptoms because we'd have to give up our guilty pleasures for genuine results. C.S. Lewis taught that law doesn't make a better man, a logic, or principle if you will, that we tend to ignore.

Living in a society that increasingly celebrates violence in movies, music and television and then asks its citizens to not participate in such acts would be humorous if the reoccurring result wasn't overall fear and devastation.

We live in and love our society where musicians who pride themselves on gang violence become the idols of children, movies and televisions shows with senseless killing become blockbusters, yet we hate it when the way we entertain ourselves is acted out in real life. I'll be the first to admit that I own some of this music and watch these movies/shows. I will also be the first in line to say that it is difficult to give these sources of entertainment up.

The questions become: Can we expect people to be repeatedly exposed to this and not allow it to influence their thinking? And, is reacting to this with increased spending on bans and more enforcement the REAL solution?

At what point can we expect more of our media? Or, accepting responsibility, at what point can we give this entertainment up? If the audience doesn't buy it, it wont sell, new messages will have to be incorporated into our media.

Strange to think that with such an educated government there is no mention of this. No attack on the messages that suggest and reinforce the acts that devastate our country.

Although crime may never be fully gone, we are masking the primary cause and hoping resolution will occur. Our politicians need to quit being afraid and thinking money is a solve all. Some things come down to responses stronger than money, like enacting self-discipline, rejecting popular negativity and demonstrating responsible values. Law cannot make better men because people canot be forced to be genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. If our leaders don't work towards a society that facilitates the development of better men we will see more laws and more skilled criminals in response.

The Fulfilling Life

Recently I was perusing the internet looking at potential careers. I love to teach, and would love to do so one day at a university. I'd consider teaching jr. high and high school but the reality is I don't know what a sonnet or prepositional phrase is.

As I was researching I was interested in the pay difference between a community college and university professor. I came across an article describing some of the pros and cons of the community college profession in which the author explained his decision to teach at the junior college level. Towards the end of the article he made a statement that struck me, it led me to think deeply about my life and where I hoped to end up.

Referring to the publicity and fame friends of his had achieved in their fields as four-year college professors he made the simple remark, "But I seriously doubt that their careers -- or their lives, for that matter -- are any more fulfilling than mine." As I approached this comment I sensed that he was neither defensive or attacking, yet his view of life seemed to strongly contrast that of modern society.

I feel that most everywhere I go, the store, class, doctor's office, I'm being conditioned into the idea that success is maintained through the achievement of money. Not only obtaining the amount of money that allows one to provide for needs and some extras, but of the extravagant extras that mock the lives of those who have absolutely nothing.

Five years ago I began a full-time volunteer experience for my church. A significant amount of my time was spent with wealthy individuals in communities where new homes in the low $1,000,000's are the cheaper part of town. What I came to find is that many of the people I came to know were unhappy or not any more happy than anyone else.  I also spent time with those living paycheck to paycheck in single bedroom apartments. They expressed similar views towards their lives.

I have since read news articles and bios of other wealthy and famous individuals whose feelings about their lives are the same. Among all classes I also found those who were genuinely happy. These people didn't have any more or less nor were they any more attractive or less attractive than the other groups.

I have often wondered what causes fulfillment, and why people who seem to have it "all" could be unhappy and unfulfilled. How can a community college professor who makes $50,000 a year say that his far more wealthy and popular colleagues have no more fulfillment in their jobs and lives?

My developing view of the world and life itself speaks something to this question. As paradoxical as it may seem, those who spend their lives concerned for and helping others and are truly grateful for what they have, reach far greater heights on the happiness continuum than those who don't. These people have learned how to contribute in a meaningful way. My belief is that they have somehow found a purpose for life that actually brings happiness. Gambling, wealth, smoking, drinking, meaningless sex and all of the other stimulant providing actions that our society participates in mask emptiness. They add stimulation to emptiness, that equation is zero times zero. Continuous and enhanced stimulation is failing society so they seek to obtain greater doses in different forms.

An old friend once taught me that a "candle loses none of it's light by lighting another candle." Our society lives by a scarcity mentality that there is only a certain amount of something and it's a competition to obtain it. Happiness is like a cake and there's only so much, you have to do whatever it takes to get your piece before it all runs out. The funny thing is that happiness and fulfillment are quite the opposite. My observation has demonstrated that all men are, at the roots of their actions, seeking these things. The reality is that neither happiness nor fulfillment can be obtained by a selfish competition. In a contradictory fashion, more happiness and fulfillment are obtained as an individual helps others find it.

Happiness and fulfillment come in one's life as they know they have integrity. They are thorough in their effort and genuine in their desire to help others without seeking the associated glory, nor do they feel entitled to all of the good that has taken place in their lives. I don't know exactly how this results in a fulfilled life, but I've seen it happen, time and time again. Perhaps it has something to do with the interconnected nature of people and their divine destiny.

In the end, I don't think the people who live these happy lives always make much money but they can say they make a difference, a difference that matters.