There's Never Been Such a Time as This

I remember as a boy growing up in the mid '60's,one of the biggest news stories was about a college student,Charles Whitman, shooting from a tower in Texas and killing 14 people.This type of act was virtually unheard of for that time. My,how things have changed. The murders have become so much more frequent and heinous.Is it an exaggeration to say that barely a week goes by that we don't read or hear of a mass murder,crime against a child or a woman? Of course it isn't. We also can't forget to mention other terrible crimes such as brutal rapes and beatings.Crimes like those and others I have just mentioned happen on such a regular basis that the public no longer seems to be genuinely shocked when they occur.
Why is this happening? The reasons are numerous and often the subject to much debate.But, who really cares what the reasons are for this huge upswing in violent crime? It's happening and it shows absolutely no signs that it won't continue to increase. Anything that points to personal accountability and paying the justifiable consequence for these acts(death penalty) are being downplayed and dismissed with increasing regularity in this oh so enlightened society.The upswing in violence is one of the many signs of a society that is sick.Perhaps almost as disturbing as this is when a society can't or won't do anything to really deal with such a problem.