My World and Welcome to It!

These are my thoughts and opinions about life in general. I also get daily prompts from DSP which inspire me to write. If I throw in some scrapbook pages I've done, photos I've taken, and stories about me, you will have an idea about my loony life!

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Problems with Today's Youth

I heard on the news today of two seventeen year olds who were to blame for a drive by shooting in a nearby town. They shot 30 times into a car that held three people. Now, I don't live in a big city so I'm always shocked to hear of such violence around me. More and more often I am hearing where teenagers and even younger kids are involved in violent acts. I truly believe the main culprit of all this violence is the steroids in our foods. Companies want bigger animals in order to make more money. Everything lately has to be "biggie sized." The best way to do this is to use steroids to get food "bigger and better."

I see this in the school district where I teach. Many of the 14 year old boys in 9th grade have beards and moustaches. Many of the 14 year old girls have babies at home. I have heard of more and more girls in 5th grade having babies. Children of both sexes are more physically mature than when I was growing up. Research has shown that steroids in athletes have made them more physically agressive and can cause anger. Does this not sound like a lot of teenagers in today's society?

I can't believe that I'm the only one who sees this so if the government sees this, why aren't they doing something about it? Why aren't there strict laws prohibiting steroids from our foods? Surely the FDA could test the foods and restrict it like they do so many other drugs from us. It may not solve our problems right away but I don't believe these problems developed overnight, so why not start today? I don't know what the answer is to this problem and I'm not sure how I could solve it but if I knew I would do my part. We try to eat more vegetables and less meat but I'm a meat lover so it is hard.

It saddens me to watch the news and hear that another young person has made a bad decision that will affect them the rest of their lives. I try to explain to my students that today when you can live to your 90s, making a bad decision in your teens can lead to a long and miserable life. Maybe I'll be able to save one child and it will all be worth the whining and ranting!

4 comments:

Bonnie said...

Pat, that is awful! I must say I don't watch the news, I will listen to it if it happens to while driving, but try to avoid it. I get very badly affected by it and end up in tears after watching it and am depressed for the rest of the day! I think that some of it is probably steriods and growth hormones in food, but I do believe that what is happening in the world is because of much bigger and more serious matters and that only God can sort out the problems of man and solve them, no human government will ever be able to.

heather said...

We've been told that there are no steroids in chicken here in Aus thank goodness, hope it's true (the one food that people said might have had steroids a few years ago) Young males + guns = disaster I think.

Unknown said...

good on you for doing what you can Pat. we need more people like you.

Karen said...

That's quite horrifying. I must admit, I was glad to read heather's comment that steroids aren't present in our food in Australia. I hope she's right.