Sept. 24, 2010: Want to make the world a better place? by Rebecca Monroe

Learning to heal violence will help the whole world.  When we help stop something that hurts other people, we are actually helping ourselves as well as other people.

People all over the world get bullied daily. Some of the people who bully do it because they are used to being bullied themselves. Others bully because they like hurting other people. Either way, bullies help to contribute to the violent ways of the world.

If we can all learn how to deal with bullies, that would lead to less violence and in turn, a better world to live in. The bullies might get lucky and learn something from our good example as well.

Television is somewhat responsible for violence as well. You can’t turn on the TV without witnessing a violent act. Think of all the children who watch TV and how the violence they see affects them.

Take time to watch TV with your kids so you know what they are watching. If they do see violence, talk about it so they understand that what they are watching is for entertainment and is really not real.

Unfortunately, violence is way too common in our society. We all need to take violence seriously and do our part to teach tolerance and generosity. I personally have known of a person who was killed due to the violent acts of another person. It was scary and has had a real impact on how I think about things.

So, as I close, I encourage all people to have hope that one day we can all live in harmony and we can learn to peacefully resolve our differences. Now, wouldn’t that be a great place to live!

— Rebecca Monroe is the daughter of Michael Monroe and Stacey Vannover.  She is an eighth grader at Concordia Junior High School.