The mass murder of journalists at a satirical newspaper in Paris and a bombing at a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in Colorado Springs has shown that we have a long way to go as far as tolerance and cultural sensitivity are concerned.
We are blessed to live in a place where we are allowed to say what we think and practice our beliefs freely. Unfortunately there are countries where this is not the case: where women are persecuted just for being women, where speaking out of turn can put you in prison, where practicing your religion puts you in danger of death.
High-placed officials and clerics from these regions continually try to subvert others through the Internet which provides the perfect medium for their madness. Therefore we must look at why many of our own young people are becoming influenced by them and then go on to perform heinous deeds in the name of their new "beliefs".
Perhaps they feel disillusioned with the world and their place in it. They might have difficulty getting a decent job within a system that appears to be stacked against them. A traumatic event in their lives could have propelled them to seek something greater than what they currently have.
Whatever the reason, it's clear that some aspects of today's society are at the root of the problem. If you don't have money or connections you need to work at least twice as hard as everyone else to get ahead. If you don't educate yourself in the "right" way you're woefully unprepared for a job market that's biased toward certain fields. You can't get a job without experience but at the same time you can't get experience without a job. Young people, particularly those of colour, are at a disadvantage.
This needs to be fixed. However it probably won't be as long as those in power retain the Daffy Duck mentality of "Consequences, schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich."
We lost lives in Canada before Christmas and now it's Paris. It's so sad. Cannot believe this is still happening.
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