When things like discrimination, racism, and even putting lower class people down occur, someone is bound to become aggravated. Sometimes it seems like those kinds of people are out of sync with the rest of the world, but maybe they just feel left out. Everyone has those times, when they might feel left out or discriminated against. It's a bewildering feeling that can be completely intolerable. Some describe it as a feeling of humiliation and alienation. One thing is certain racism, even in jest, often leads to conflicts. The question is: "What steps can we take in order to stop these sorts of things?", "How can we prevent them?", and "What can we do when we are involved in one ourselves?"

Accidents happen. Sometimes people can take something the wrong way and just really flip out. When this happens, especially in fights, most students only cheer for a fight. Something that startled me tremendously was a fight I passed in the halls not long ago. As soon as the fight broke out everyone seemed to run towards it and form a tight circle, the faces of those that were watching- excitement, laughter, Praise! What was going on ? I could not believe my eyes, something terrible was happening, people hurting each other and the majority of the onlookers not only not helping, but also encouraging their peers to fight. What disturbed me the most was when I saw the excited face of a girl who quickly exclaimed "Fight!" and without any hesitation many students hurriedly rushed upon the scene as if someone was giving out fistfuls of cash. How can anyone in this situation be a peacekeeper when there is no possibility of even getting anywhere near the wild horde.

It is my finding that the attitudes of young people today are so unbelievably desensitized that a fight is simply a form of entertainment to the vast majority. People will say that violent movies and t.v. have nothing to do with this, but those people couldn't be more wrong. It is the violence on television and in the movies that makes young people not only desensitized to violence, but it takes them to a point where they crave it. We see so many shootings and fights that break out in schools, then we see schools covering it up instead of addressing the problem. Why do we put Band-Aids on bullet wounds? Now that violence and conflict is on the rise in our education systems it is time to rethink all the things we expose young people to. We must come to a consensus on what young people do and do not have access to; which grows increasingly difficult with Internet and Cable systems installed in so many homes. It seems very challenging to do, but something has to be done if the methods right now are not working.

I see a future where there are much more peaceful hallways at Mather, as well as schools in Chicago, and throughout this country. I see students who will jump in to stop fights, tell teachers when one is planned on "going down". I want to see students who witness a fight flee from it, not run and cheer it on. I want to see change in the attitudes of people towards violence.

Resolving conflicts is possible but not without reform.