The Tyrant that is, Our 1st Amendment Right

I know that this is a sports themed blog, and I apologize if this misses the boat for you. I also want to warn that this posting covers issues that some may find uncomfortable.

I want to take a moment to explain why we should look to amend our 1st Amendment Rights, Freedom of Speech.

When introduced, freedom of speech was something that the British oppressed from our fore fathers. When we were British owned they kept the general population without the ability to freely speak, keeping them uninformed, obedient to laws, regulations, and levy's passed down upon them. Restricting the press, and other forms of organized communication was a way of maintaining control over the colonies at a time pre-telephone or pre-internet.

Communication evolved. Telephone, cell phones, more media outlets, news, mail, and other. Then came the internet, giving individuals email capabilities, Instant Messaging capabilities, and now Social Networking. Through this evolution of communication we have lost a lot of responsibility in what we say, and especially in how it affects those it is directed to.

Bullying, false information, cyber-bullying, releasing private information, all of these things have lead to completely destructive or fatal results. Over the last few months we have heard stories of Cyber-bullying on Facebook which has resulted in teens committing suicide. Here are some interesting facts which I have found from www.bullyingsstatistics.org:

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.

Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University

A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying

10 to 14 year old girls may be at even higher risk for suicide, according to the study above

According to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying

You read that correctly, suicide is the cause for 4,400 youth deaths per year with about half of those deaths related to bullying. That is roughly 2,200 deaths per year due to hurtful words from others. I don't think that our forefathers thought giving us freedom of speech would result in the tragic deaths of our youth.

There is also the question of false or intentionally misleading media coverage. Coverage which can falsely accuse someone of crimes, swaying public opinion before a verdict has been determined in the courts. From thieves to rapists, from murderers to money embezzlers. We are also living in an age of tabloid media, passing false stories off as truth. Not long ago these magazines were constantly being sued by celebrities attempting to save their image through the tabloids false stories. Not only did this end up costing these media outlets credibility and money, but it tied up our judicial system with cases which could have easily been eluded.

Looking at what we now know, shouldn't the US Constitution should be a living, evolving document. A document which should be able to be amended with the times, for the better, based on the needs of the times, and not subject to political battles. After all  why should a senator from California be able to vote for a change which would affect people in Maine? Especially when they may or may not have the same needs, worries, or demands? Instead we should give the President full authority to make changes to the constitution as he sees fit, he is the only elected official which the entire country votes on.

Wouldn't this be perfect? Giving 1 man ultimate power, allowing him to change the law of the land as he believes is needed. Perhaps he also should be granted special wartime powers, or special powers during heightened threats of a terrorist attack.

By this point (or possibly long ago) you thought, "this is a completely ridiculous and outrageous suggestion!" You would be very much right. Thing is, we should be outraged by the mere thought of changing any rights that are afforded to us through the constitution. This includes our 2nd Amendment.

We should not ban firearms, any sorts of firearms. Not only are we granted the right to bare arms so we can hunt for food or protect our families, we are granted the right to stand up to a tyrant government if or when needed. I am not saying that we should buy guns and start a militia tomorrow, however I am saying that one day in the future its not inconceivable that Americans will need to do this. If there are less firearms available to the people, the less of a chance there is that the people will have the ability to fight back if the time comes.

Assault rifles accounted for 323 deaths in 2011, while bullying accounted for roughly 2,000. Think of that, why aren't suicides caused by bullying a bigger story? There were 1,700 more deaths from bullying than assault rifles. You will never hear the media running campaigns to limit our Freedom of Speech, but they back the idea of banning assault rifles.

There will always be people that oppose firearms, maybe because they fear them, or maybe they do not understand them or their place in society. Most times people don't make that connection that is takes someone with a specific desire to cause harm for a gun to cause damage. They also do not realize that 1 in every 4 households in America have firearms, and there are 270,000,000 civilian owned firearms in the US.

When we hear these stories about a teen that tragically took their life because she was tormented, we say that kids today aren't taught to respect their lives and that if they just reached out for help or just held on cause it gets better, or a parent or a teacher stepped in and asked what was wrong. This is the exact message we should be giving when we hear about the next shooting. What we hear instead is, it has to be harder to buy guns, or we need to ban a certain kind of weapon.

What we need to do is get back to the basics and teach respect for humanity. At home, at school, at your aunt's house or neighbor's. We need to remember just how fragile and special life is. We need to become emotionally attached to people again, and not so dependent on technology. We need to become a compassionate world again, and not a place where children so easily get lost in the shuffle. We need to remember to love each other, and not shy away from expressing that to all humanity.

We weep

I am still angry, saddened, dazed, confused, and discouraged by the horrendous actions that took place in Sandy Hook Elementary School. I feel a little uneasy today as we sent our children to school or left them in the care of others as we returned for another work week. There is a huge part of me that would like to stay home and shelter my children from all the dangers of the world. Over the next couple paragraphs I want to make abundantly clear, my thoughts and prayers, in fact I believe everyone's thoughts and prayers are with the children, their families, the brave teachers that did everything they could to save them, the kids that will live the rest of their lives with this memory, and the Newtown community.

I am discouraged because we hear about the monster that did this in Connecticut, we hear about the tragic event the same day in China, we hear about the high school basketball game later that night, and we hear about the movie theater incident just last night. As I sat down for the days work a colleague was speaking to a client in Connecticut not far from the event and his children's school was locked down due to suspicious activity at a subway nearby.

I'm not sure about you, but my wife and I decided to keep the news from our children. After all how do you explain to a 1st grader that kids his age were just rifled down in a classroom just like his? I think part of not telling him was also because it would make this event even more real to us as parents. I still sit here imagining the parents staring at their children's rooms, grasping their favorite toy, laying in their blanket. Even more so realizing that in a week it will be Christmas.

People will scream to toughen on gun laws, they already have. This isn't fixing the issue though. It is the people behind the weapon. The monster in Connecticut was a monster, gun or not. The monster in that Colorado theater was a monster, guns or not. The monsters in Columbine were monsters, guns or not. Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, so on and so on and so on. These people were the problem. Their ability to acquire the firearms were the problem. The firearms were not the problem.

To put the sports perspective on it. Brandon Marshall suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. He admittedly has suffered from this possibly his entire life. In most US states he is perfectly qualified to purchase firearms, and in some he can even fit the criteria to be approved for conceal and carry. This is a problem.

Now of course there is a glaring hole in restrictions for people with mental disabilities and owning firearms. Some will say to close that hole and we can fix a lot of what's wrong. Sure, this could possibly stop an incident from happening, but it is more important to identify those with mental illnesses. In Brandon Marshall's case he wasn't diagnosed until sometime in 2011, this was after numerous incidents and outbursts. What if he happened to have a firearm on him during one of these incidents? What if he hadn't of been diagnosed and properly treated? As a 27 year old star athlete, he would have been brushed away as another poor athlete that couldn't handle the pressure of professional sports. But he was diagnosed, and we can do more to help others get treatment they need.

We need to do more to identify individuals that suffer from mental illness. We need to do more to ensure they have the proper care and treatment they need and deserve. We need to make sure that the underprivileged kid that is always starting fights isn't doing it because he has a ticking time bomb in his head. We need to make sure that rich child that has social anxiety isn't this way because he is suffering everyday from deep depression. We owe this to our children, every one of them. Most of all, parents, family members, adults, and anyone else in position of influence needs to make sure they tell and show the kids in their life that they are loved.

I mentioned before that all of our thoughts and prayers need to be with those so impacted by this tragic event. This is so true, but as a caring nation we need to also let them know that they are loved, especially in this time of need.