Time for peaceBy Garrett & Russell Collins July 19, 2015
According to the Center for Disease Control, there were 16,121 homicides in the United States in 2013. More than 11,000 of those killings were caused by firearms. What better way is there to teach our children that all lives matter? Now is the time for peace. Violent crime inflicts a heavy economic and emotional burden on our development as a country. Violence costs taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year including medical care, court fees and incarcerations. Why not give people a way to vent their aggression in a controlled manner before more lives are tragically cut short? In order to ensure a safer future for our children, we must end this vicious cycle of retribution and revenge killings plaguing this country. Let us start by investing in change. Gyms and recreational centers across America could start open-house programs that would take people off the streets and bring them into safer environments to settle their disputes. Let us also build community and recreational centers where there are none to provide a safer alternative than street justice. Rather than the serious injuries that street fights almost always guarantee, both participants in boxing or mixed martial arts challenges will walk away because these conflicts come with rules, referees, gloves, headgear, mouth pieces and other protective measures in place. Matches will be fair, one-on-one contests that only take place after all efforts by mentors to reach peace without a fight are exhausted. Every person has free will to choose to take part in a match and can quit at any time. None of these matches will be spectacles, either. Only two participants, referees and mentors will be allowed at the closed matches. When they are completed, they will have more respect for one another. They will also have built a bond that will allow them to realize that they have more in common than either of them originally thought. This will bring enemies closer, unite them over common ground and create new friendships among groups from all sides. We also can expand buyback or trade programs that take dangerous weapons out of the equation and replace them with equipment such as boxing gloves and lessons. Let us all join in this righteous effort to establish peace right here at home. America can and will be a symbol of unity and harmony for the world. Thank you, Garrett & Russell Collins (The Collins Brothers) Received July 18, 2015 - Published July 19, 2015
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