Part 1: Killing ourselves by various methods in the USA
While the Parkland, Florida school shooting left 14 kids dead along with three teachers, as a society, we must look beyond the dramatic deaths affecting young citizens of America. Why are we, as a civilization, driving ourselves nuts to such an extent that some among us slaughter other human beings?
Today, across America, young children and teenagers watch violent television 24/7. They play violent video games. They access pornography at the click of their smart phones. Talk about messing up their minds! They watch reports on our endless wars and bombings overseas. Millions of children stagger daily from distressed parents, at 50 percent divorce rates, either angry as hell with each other, or grinding emotionally against one another. Those children lose structure, security and constancy of a normal home life.
Congress continues funding the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars for 17 God-forsaken years—with no end in sight—yet the American people support it by re-electing members of Congress who fund it. We’ve killed tens of thousands, even millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, Yemen, Vietnam and Korea. And, we think 17 people killed in Parkland equates to horrendous killings?
Nightly news broadcasts show bombing runs and machine-gun fire as a normal part of daily life in Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and beyond.
Each year, 55,000 teenagers across America die from drug overdoses from beer, opiate drugs, heroin and other drugs. It’s a national epidemic, but no one will stop the Mexican drug cartels from selling $50 billion in drugs to our kids annually. You think guns present a problem? (Source: www.CDC.gov)
Kids watch R-rated movies like consuming peanut butter and jam sandwiches—no difference! Kill, kill and kill some more. The Rock, actor Dwayne Johnson, kills everything in mass shootings or a gunshot to the head of somebody he doesn’t like—and calmly walks away. The TV show, Criminal Minds, depicts the most insanely sick, demented and sadistic kinds of crime any madman might dream up. Yet, we feed it to our kids. Edgar Allen Poe might jump out of his grave with delight knowing that someone bests his ravaged mind nightly on television.
We want to ban assault weapons? American television proves itself the greatest assault weapon in our society.
Knife-wielding people kill 10 times as many victims as assault weapons. Drunken drivers kill 12,000 to 15,000 people annually on our highways. Yet, we don’t do squat to stop that carnage. Drunk drivers kill tens of thousands of little children over the years.
And texting, how about over 1.6 million accidents annually in the USA and 4,100 deaths—from some idiot teen or older person texting while driving 60 miles per hour in city traffic. Or, texting while sitting at a stop light! You’ve seen them everywhere. I’ve personally seen bus drivers texting in Denver traffic. Guess what? Flimsy to pathetically weak laws to stop it!
So, you think we’re going to stop school shootings by banning assault weapons? According to the FBI, four times as many people die from knife stabbings than gun shootings—at 1,600 knifings annually in the USA.
How about abortions of fetuses in USA? Try 650,000 abortions in the USA annually and 46 million worldwide—year in and year out. We don’t call it killing, but what do we call it? Anyone pushing for birth control for teens?
How about the violence to kids that arrive without a father? Seven out of ten African-American children arrive in this world to a single mother, usually on welfare, to live a vacant, directionless life without a male role model. They do poorly in school, drop out, join gangs and run drug rings and shoot people. In fact, 98 percent of all black deaths stem from black on black killings. Anyone trying to stop that carnage? Chicago, Illinois proves a killing ground year after year.
How about medical doctors prescribing drugs year in and year out that kill over 100,000 innocent victims annually? Anybody stop the AMA or Big Pharma from prescribing that much death? Nope! Too much money to be made! Consider that Big Pharma makes $100 billion annually for dispensing that nightmare drug: chemo. Half live and half die from it. Is anyone prescribing organic eating, positive living, staying slim, non-chemical usage, exercise and spiritual balance? No! A pill or chemical drip will save you!
How about death by living in big cities? Do you notice all the crime and violence stemming from big cities? Anyone appreciate that living in big cities means you walk, play and exist on concrete? You never touch Mother Nature and she never touches you. None of those kids knows where milk, eggs, orange juice, vegetables or any of their food comes from—except a grocery store shelf. A bag of Doritos and a Big Mac along with a Coke remain the favorite foods of choice. No attachment or connection to the natural world! Total isolation from life itself!
“Tell me what you will of the benefactions of city civilization, of the sweet security of streets—all as part of the natural up-growth of man towards the high destiny we hear so much about. I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found. If the death exhalations that brood, the broad towns in which we so fondly compact ourselves were made visible, we should flee as from a plague. All are more or less sick; there is not a perfectly sane man in all of San Francisco.” John Muir, naturalist
How about death of our children, and adults by obesity—into the tens of millions? Grocery stores sell more death by processed foods, chemicalized foods and sugar-laden foods than anyone comprehends. You may count over 90 percent of canned, glassed or packaged foods containing more chemicals than you can pronounce. Fast food and junk food remain top choices along with cheese-laden pizza. Talk about a heart attack in a box!
Seven out of ten Americans suffer from being fat or grossly obese conditions. Heart attacks strike and kill nearly a million Americans annually. Cancer takes down around million annually. Diabetes affects 5.5 million Americans, but we keep pouring sugar down our gullets. A whopping 79,000 deaths annually. Anybody demonstrating for healthier eating to prevent the carnage?
Kids keep devouring Fruit Loops, Honey Smacks, Fruity Pebbles, Apple Jacks, Crispy Treats with chemical dyes, sugar and processed grains that kill or make you fat—then you die a slow-motion death.
Let’s look at those zingy soda pops like Coke “Open a bottle of Happiness” or “Mountain Dew” Live Fast! Coke Zero! All of them contain chemicals that cause heart disease, dental cavities, sugar addiction at 13 teaspoons per can, raise your blood pressure with caffeine and cause PVC’s (premature ventricle contractions). When you add the “diet” to the sodas, you consume synthetic sugars like aspartame, saccharin, Stevia, Splenda and sucralose. Several of them contribute to lupus, fibromyalgia and other neural short circuits in your body’s nervous system. Anybody ever heard of water? How about a sweet, juicy apple or orange? What a concept! Real foods!
I could write another page of what we’re doing to ourselves, but what can we do to save ourselves? To stop the shootings? To stop eating and drinking ourselves to death? To stop violent TV programs? To stop drinking and driving, and texting ourselves to death?
Part 2: Methods to stop the madness in America, stop deaths by guns, knives, texting, drunken driving, eating ourselves to death.
Frosty Wooldridge is a Population-Immigration-Environmental specialist: speaker at colleges, civic clubs, high schools and conferences. Facebook: Frosty Wooldridge. Facebook Adventure Page: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World. Www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com. www.frostywooldridge.com.
