On Monday the city of Boston celebrated Patriot’s Day with
its annual running of the Boston Marathon.
The Boston Marathon originated in 1897.
In that year they had somewhere around 15 participants. Since then the number of participants has
swelled each year. It has become one of
the largest marathons in the world and is one of the six World Marathons Majors.
Boston has always considered its place in history with pride
and honor. The first battles of the Revolutionary
War took place in Lexington and Concord, miles from Boston. In order to commemorate the enormity and
symbolism of the birth of the United States and its independence and liberty,
Boston has designated the third Monday in April as Patriot’s Day. As part of the city’s celebration, the annual
Boston Marathon is run on the same day.
I imagine it was difficult for the first planners of the
race to envision what the race was going to become. With 15 participants in the first race, they
would have had no idea the numbers would swell to over 20,000 annual
runners. In 1996, its centennial race, the
Boston Marathon set the world record for participants with 38,768 entrants,
36,748 runners and 35,868 finishers. In
2013, there were 23,336. Those runners
came from 92 different countries and every state in the Union. In addition they represented 35 official
charities and numerous causes, including Sandy Hook Elementary. Not to mention the 500,000 spectators who come
to celebrate human achievement by cheering on the runners.
We all know how the race ended in 2013. 3 dead and 175 injured. Unfortunately, senseless violence has become
a part of our lives. Whether it is
terrorist actions using explosives or mass shootings in schools or other public
forums, we have lost our innocence.
It would be easy for us to live in fear or paranoia and
become untrusting of our society. That
is the evil trap we have to avoid. I
believe we have to focus on the selfless acts of heroism and the countless
stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help each other get
through these times. We have to continue
to find the good in our neighbors and try to inspire the world through our
Christ-like behaviors. It is not
easy.
Do you think there has been an increase in the amount of
violence in our society? What do you
think is causing people to turn to violent acts? What do you think we can do as a society to
decrease acts of violence? What can we
do for Boston to help the city and its people recover?
Justin- In the last couple of years I think that there has been an increase in violence. I think people turn to violence because they are either mentally ill or they are really angry and want to take that anger out on innocent people. As a society I think that we need to know when we need help with our anger or get help for those who are mentally ill and do not let them have access to weapons. I think that for Boston they need the whole country's thoughts and prayers to help them get through this horrible incident.
ReplyDeleteRyan- I do think there has been an increased amount of violence due to the fact that the games children and teens are playing are so violent. People are becoming desensitized to other people. Ya sure it may be fun to shoot your friend in a video game but not in the real world. I think that we could make video games less violent or maybe better rating or something along those lines. I think we can donate blood and give them moral support.
ReplyDeletePetie- In the last few years there has been a definite increase in violence. We had many many mass murders, bombings, suicides, and hostage situations. It is horrible to see a society that has a chance to be the number one in the world are only number one in bad things, like number of annual crimes. People are turning to violent crimes simply because they want attention. They must feel as though no one really cares about them, so they feel like if they commit a mass crime, then someone will finally notice them.They also want pure mayhem. There may be a few people who don't like America, so they feel like it should be put into mayhem, hoping that will put us astray, but it won't. They also maybe mentally ill, and not know the difference between the horribly wrong and the right. I think that we need to find those who need help, and put them on the right track. We should also give everyone equal amounts of attention, so that they feel like they don't need to do something horrific like the Boston Bombing to get noticed. WE NEED TO STOP RACISM!!! If people are to stop racism then the people won't feel like it is their duty to get back at the people who criticized them and made fun of them. It is things like the video that guy made making fun of Islamic people that really puts our country at rick of these horrific tragedies.WE really ned to help Boston by donating money to those who can't afford to stay in the hospitals, but they really need it. We can alos help rebuild the parts of Boston that are damaged. We can also give them our love and support through cards and emails.
ReplyDeleteGrace- I think there has definitely been an increase of violent acts. I think that one of the reasons there are so many is because people have access to a variety of weapons to carry out violent acts. It's a new epoch of technology when people can just Google how to make a bomb and results actually come up. People probably figure, well I have the ability to get revenge so why not use it? I think that we should definitely do something about video games that involve shooting people. There are plenty of video game alternatives for Black-Ops and games like that. Children should not be able to play such violent games. They shouldn't see guns and bombs because we're just setting them up for trouble at a young age. I mean, how many times has Mrs. Governale told us stories of kids who shoot their friends and expect them to get back up? A few times, as I recall. That actually happens. Also, I think something should be done about shooting ranges. It depends on the shooting range, but some shooting ranges allow kids of any age to shoot a gun as long as they are with a parent. I think all shooting ranges should only allow people 21 and older to shoot, even enter, like at a bar. Too many kids are desensitized and don't understand that if you use a gun the right way, you could kill someone. I guess that we could have fundraisers, like a bake sale, to raise money to help repair the damage and for the people.
ReplyDeletePatrick- I do think there has been an increase in violence in the last couple of years if not the last decade, I think people are turning to violence because our society has increased the stress levels between the economy,unemployment, and other national happenings. Also because people are sick minded and just don't understand what they are doing, also of course if they are mentally ill they can't really control that. I think as a society we can decrease the level of violence by harsher punishment, which will prevent people from committing the crime, and a decrease of weapons vein available to the public. I think Boston should just assure their people that they are safe and that we will not allow that to happen again. As for us i think that we can just send them our prayers and hope for a safer world.
ReplyDeleteMegan- there was definally been an increase in violence in our country. The past few weeks have been crazy. I think this is because of all the war in the world. Also because there are small amounts of people from different cultures that don't like the way our country is run. I also think people just want to be "rebels" and become famous. They definally do think in the wrong way. I think we need to look back on what figures did before us to deal with this. This includes the sharing of moral values in our society, more opportunities for the youth in America to express their emotions in a good way, and we need to have our leaders show what we are supposed to act like. I hope we can all come together to help the Boston's victims. It's good that we support each other.
ReplyDeleteNate- With the increase of untreated mentally unstable people, violnce also tends to increase. Our society seems to going through that. What causes violence? Well, mentally unstable people a lot of the time. Then, you also have things like violent video games and TV, etc. Those can have a bad influence on the younger population. However, I don't think that violent media alone can cause someone to kill people. There are always outside factors. To decrease the amount violence in our society, I think that we should limit the amount of exposure to violent media for younger people. As far as people with mental health problems, you can't really help that. They have to make the decision to ask for help themselves. To help Boston, I think that WE can pray for them. That would (hopefully) help immensely.
ReplyDeleteThomas B-I do think there has been a increase in violent behavior because people can be influenced very easily. I think video games and gangs are a big part of people becoming more violent. I think we should not allow younger kids to watch violent movies or play M rated games. I am not sure what to do with the gangs. All that we here in Boise can do is to pray for the injured and pray for the family members of those who died.
ReplyDeleteTo your first few sentences, you do not, I believe see older folks run around in dark hallways chasing white balls and running away from multicolored ghosts, do you?
DeleteSean
DeleteNatalie- There has been a definite increase in violence in this country. Shootings and bombings have become more and more common. Every day you turn on the news, and you hear about some horrific shooting. I agree with Nate, mentally unstable people cause violence most of the time. But the increase in violence in video games and on TV has probably had an impact as well. We can't really do anything about TV and video games, because there are some parents out there who don't care, and let their children watch movies that are rated R. We could try and limit violence in video games, but we can't limit it all. The people in Boston have our thoughts and our prayers as they recover, and we can donate money and effort to the people that were injured.
ReplyDeleteSydney-Yes, I very much think that there has been an increase of violence in our society. Lots of things have happened this week like the Texas explosion also. Violence is getting worse and worse. I think that the cause of this is because some children's parents may be influencing them and violent TV shows or video games. I think that the society needs to make TV shows and video games less violent. The characters can come back to life in video games, so that may be what children are growing up thinking. I think to help Boston, we must send medical help and help rebuild the bombed buildings. We are keeping all the people who passed in this bombing in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteJohn-I think that there has been a lot of violence in our society therefore I think the violence in our society has definently increased. I think we are becoming more violent because some sico people are in hand of some dangerous weapons and are deciding to do some terrible stuff with weapon. I think our society should maybe be a lot more protective with our security so nothing bad happnes in that particular place. I think we can pray for them but maybe write some letters to the people in Boston and maybe donate some money to a charity that is helping the people in Boston recover.
ReplyDeleteThere is a weakness in society, people do these acts for trivial reasons, and most of mankind becomes more weak and begin acting like vultures, stealing the profit of others and harping on the people they hate. And also Morales have become weaker, have you ever heard of anything like this happen in the fifties? No.
ReplyDeleteBut we can stop this by strengthening each other, looking at life by a new prospective, but to not gloat on others for support.
We can help boston by knowing that death is part, and the reverence life, the past is the past, we cannot change it, but we can learn and become better from it's mistakes, and most vitally, carry on, I have become neutral to death, it does not concern me, nor does its' occurrence make me fear it. Therefore I am viewed as a monster by some. But in the end, we will all pass on to the journey to heaven, and salvation. Once you administer this to your morals you will find yourself revelational to help others more than you did before, why? You release an attachment you were so feared of.
Sean
DeleteWhat can we do for Boston to help the city and its people recover? Tomas - I think that there has been a major increase in the violence. Over the past year, there have been many mass killings. I also think that the Senate should be ashamed that they said that we can TALK about it. I mean how does that help the problem and the victim's family in this horrible situation. I think that people are doing these acts because they are depressed, they were brainwashed, they're on drugs, i don't know. We need to strengthen each other and not try to get help from others. But for those who are depressed or on drugs we need to get help for them. to help those in Boston, we should make a fundraiser or something that will go to the Hospitals in Boston so that they can recover from their serious injuries.
ReplyDeleteHayley: Yes I think their is a major influence of violence in our society. I think the Sandy Hook shooting has caused people to be unnerved and jittery. People said we were going to die in 2012 from something bad. Turns out were just killing innocent people for no reason. What has our society become? I think people are nervous and paranoid. We are turning to horrible things. We have chosen the wrong path to follow. We need to understand that killing or harming others is NEVER the right path. We need to decrease the guns and stop turning on each other. We need to become an unity. We can help Boston and its people by praying for them. We can donate to organization relief charities that help Boston and its people. The thing that I think will help most is our prayers.
ReplyDeleteRaquel- I definetly think that our society has become more violent. The reason I believe this is that really there isn't much attenetion towards the fact that we are getting more violent and the media isn't helping by saying that it is all right.We can inform peole that violence isnt the right choice to act in. I think the best we can do is pray and hope for the best for all the families hurt by this tragic occurrence.
ReplyDeleteKeelie: Yes there is an increse in violence over the years. I think that the media plays a big part of how we act. Also, the fact some people just don't care about anyone but themselves. So yeah, people are becoming more selfish. I want to say that there are many good stories about Boston, too. Like a new citizen heloing a man, who lost his legs, to safety. We should have tougher consequenes for violence. Prayer is the best thing we can do.
ReplyDeleteLiam~ I think that there is a definite increase in violence. One main reason is that there is so much violence in society, we find it in movies, video games, and in basically everything. For this reason we become desensitized to violence. One thing that we can do to decrease violence is to have a stronger hold on violent movies, and increasing the rating of a movie or video game. To help Boston heal in their time of need we can all contribute by either donating directly or finding a business that contributes to an organization and buying goods there. Boston needs our support and we can all help.
ReplyDeleteReed: I think that there has been a huge increase in violence. I think the reason of this is all the movies, video games, Tv shows, and other things that kids arnt mature enough to play or watch. It corrupts there minds and makes there childhood much more violent. To decrees the amount of violence is to make the child's life safer. So when they grow up they will not have a idea of what it is like. I think we can help Boston by making sure it is a lot safer. Now that they have caught those sick people they must feel a little bit safer than before.
ReplyDeleteRylie: Yes, I think that here has been a tremendous increase in violence today. I think the main reason for violence is, our society has become desensitized to it. Violence is everywhere. Whether it be in a sold-out video game or in a movie.In our society I think that we should watch for what we put in our movies and who gets to see them. I know that we have the Ratings system for them, but I think we should step it up a little. For Boston, I think we should all pray for that city. God will answer our prayers, but in the meantime we need get stricter laws for anti-violence. But, it's not just about the laws, it's about how we enforce them.
ReplyDeleteLily- Yes, the violence in our society has increased tremendously in just the past year. There are so many ways that are causing these acts of violence that are in our society. Video games I think is becoming so gory and kids who are really young are getting desensitized by the fact of killing people and violent acts. Video games are not just the problems there are many other ways that could be causing violent acts. As a society I think we need to inforce stricter laws on certain games or what ever the case is. We need to pray for Boston and keep them in mind. It hard to put yourself in those people's shoes that are going through tough times, but we all need to try and know that good things are going to come out of this.
ReplyDeleteBailie- Yes, I think that there has been an increase in violence in our society. But not just our society but the whole world has had an increase in violence. I don’t know exactly what is causing these violent outbreaks, but I think it can be contributed to multiple things. One of them being all the violent video games. I think we can decrease the amount of violent video games produced. I think we can keep Boston in our prayers because it’s the only thing I know what to do at the moment.
ReplyDeleteLiza-I think there is a huge increase of violence in our society. We all play violent video game like Halo and Call of Duty have glorified war and make violence seem like it's all a game and can be reversed with the touch of a button. I think people do violent thing because they can't express themselves. They have all these feelings and beliefs that could be used to help people, but since they can't figure out how to show how they feel or show their beliefs in the way they want so they tun to violence. It's really sad, because those people are really smart and could help someone, but they don't. To prevent violence we could offer support to people who want to express themselves but don't know how. We can teach them about ways to channel all their negative energy into something good like art and music. We just need to help them or even teach them about new things to keep them occupied so they don't do things like that. All i think we can do for Boston is pray and offer support. People hear about these things and think "Oh that's so sad." and then move on. We need to pray for everyone affected by the bomb. It isn't fair to just let it slide out if your mind when you pray or think. So many bad things happened to the people there. We just have to offer support and pray for those that had died and those that have been affected.
ReplyDeleteLuke- I think there has been an increase of violence in our society. Unlike what other people are saying, I do not think violent video games in general is the reason for the violence. I play those types of games, and there isn't a violent bone in my body. However, it could contribute to it. I believe the problem is exposing young children to violence. The violent images can brainwash them into thinking that they are okay. What we can do is teach about violence in schools and what the concequences are. All we can do right now is pray for them.the events have already taken place, but we can help them recover by giving God's grace.
ReplyDeleteTodd- Yes, in the last few years there has been an increase in violence. We have had school shootings, 9-11 and the most recent the Boston booming. I think there are three major reasons why, the first is that when these things happen it encourages others to do the same. Two, there has been a lot of war going on and how we keep being attacked by terrorist and other organized groups. We should become better allies with others and that can help us be a less target. I think we may also need to start helping the unstable people in our own society. We can help encourage the innocent people rise of this horrible tragedy and stand strong together, they know that we are all rooting for them.
ReplyDeleteAndoni-I think the little by litle violence has worked its way into the lives of Americans. It is everywhere. In the news, in movies, And video games.I think that by limiting exposure to violent images to a child would assist in the decrease in violence. People's biases can also lead to this increase, but if we tech our youth about equality things could change. We need to let children know that violence does not solve all problems. We need to do all that we can to aid the people of Boston as they recover. We can send our thought and prayers out to the families that were impacted.
ReplyDeleteAubrie- Yes I do think that there has been an increase in violence lately. I think that this is happing because media and publicity of current crime events. I think that this is giving other people ideas on how to harm another person in some way. I think as a society we can do many things to decrees the amount of crime that is happening in our world. Some of these ways are to start making toe punishment more severe so that it will discourage people from committing these crimes. Another thing that we the society can do is to hold people accountable for what they really do and not letting them go so easily. We can help Boston and its people to recover by showing continues support and prayers.
ReplyDeleteNathan- Violence has definitely increased in our society, and is still continuing to go up. Violent video games, movies, and the media talking about it a lot is causing all of these things to happen. I don't know if you had noticed, but all off the shooters in the recent shootings played violent video games. I depends on what you do at a young age to decide your future. People can try and reduce the amount of violent games, or they could put higher ratings on movies (Ratings saying if kids can watch or not). Things like "The Hunger Games" was violent and someone could watch that, and try and create a scenario similar like that. The media influences people a lot as well, and when we turn on the news and keep seeing "Boston Massacre" for a week, we may think of doing such immoral acts. You may kill a bunch of people just to get popularity from the media. The whole country would know your name, and also what you look like. But why sacrifice your future doing that? We can try to help Boston by collecting supplies for them and sending it. A group of people could go to the hospital and visit the poor injured souls who were unjustly hurt. And above everything else, we can pray.
ReplyDeleteNekane-Yes i do. Its like a domino effect one thing after another. we need to stop makeing such a big deal they are feeding off of our reactions almost. Just know we are a strong nation and we can get through this and all the other violent acts.
ReplyDeleteLauryn-Yes I do think there has been an increase in the amount of violence in our society. I think people are getting more access to drugs which are making them crazier. Or they could be looking for attention. I think some people don’t feel like anyone is listening and when they create mass murder then everyone listens. I think it is really sad that our society has come down to that. I think to decrease acts of violence the society needs to be stricter on what there kids are playing with. Such as violent games could rewire there brain to think that is how its supposed to be. I think there should also be a gun safety class in high school for every kid. Since Boise is so far away I think the only thing we can do is pray for Boston or donate money.
ReplyDeleteAdriana- yes I do think that the violence has increased in our society. I think people have turned more violent because if someone maybe is mentally ill or is insane they have easier access to guns. So then when something that they are not fond of happens, they go on a rampage. I think that we should limit the amount of violence. Whether its a tv show, a movie, or even video games. Right now I think we should just pray for Boston and the people who are died and the people who are injured that they will hopefully they will heal soon. And pray for the families of the people who died.
ReplyDeleteclaire-some people will open a mgazine and see people doing violent behavier they will think wow that person is getting famouse attention for that crime then they will do somthing bad to draw attention to themselves.Another thing I think is causing violent behavior is that some mentaly sick people with posetion of wepons.Violent video games and tv shows are probebly also causing violenc.Violence has increased in our society and I think we should pray for the familys with people injured in the bosten bombing.
ReplyDeleteIsabel- There has always been violence. Even hundreds of years ago, people have always been angry with each other. Sure I think there is more violence in our society today than in the past, but I also think there is not much we can do about it. There. Has. Always. Been. Violence. Weather it was people in the old west having shootouts, or more modern people having gang fights , violence is still here! Yes you can take away people' s things: violent video games, guns, etc. but how far can you go before it's taking away their rights? I think that the concentration of our population is higher in certain areas. In a place where normally there would be 10 people, now there are 200 people. So when a bombing occurs like the one in Boston, more people die. That doesn't mean the violence is any different if 200 people are dying from the cause rather than 10. I think there are many ways we can help the people in Boston but right now I think all they need from us, (the people 1000 miles away), is our prayers.
ReplyDeleteWes- I think that there has been a regular and same amount of disasters since the very beginning. Sure not all people are wiolent at times, but what makes people really believe that there has been a huge increase in violence is what I believe to be the media. But it is not the media's fault that this is happening. People will most likely do this behavior bacause of how some people either want to get famous, are possibly ill, hate a group so much that they want to end it only based on country or faith, or maybe the media again with video games and movies that are quite violent. I remember hearing about a kid in high school who shot a lot of kids with a machine gun. They found out that in his journal that he had been playing a lot of Doom 3 and wanted to do what was in the game in real life. People can sometimes be persuaded to go wherever the media is. really there is not going to be a sure fire way that can help stop violence because people can do violence about any way. Maybe increase of security would help protect people but not stop it. But in the case for the people in Boston we have nothing to do but pray.
ReplyDelete