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We all too selfishly jump from cause to cause, similar from fad to fad or what ever seems to be "all the rage" at the time. It's sad that we even follow the trends with tragedy, but it's true. What happened at Virginia Tech was a massacre that we all hope will never be out done. But it is being out done every day.

Our military is serving and sacrificing their lives while watching the lives of countless others perish everyday. The Government can say it's about terror, the rest can say it's about oil or gun laws, but when lives are lost, on the grand scale of life, it's about nothing.

I say nothing as it defines what, in many cases, happens as a result of deaths. Countless soldiers have died and yet the end seems no closer in sight than it did when we started. I hear the comparisons to Viet Nam over and over. Oil and the death of tyrants like Saddam have not revived the masses who have died while we walk this path of power and destruction. While we continue to march our troops off in the name of Patriotism, there still remains yet another page to this violent chapter.

The death toll in the streets of the United States makes for a war zone in itself. I live in Phoenix, where not too long ago, we were under siege from gunmen who made it a point to randomly shoot victims all over the valley. This has taken the violence in the streets beyond gangs and hate groups, as the focus of their violence has now been focused on everyday people, rather than those they once fought and opposed for drugs, race supremacy, or claim to a city block they don't even own. And now, we have people being shot while sitting at bus stops. As this goes on in my city, there are similar stories across the nation, that we can never keep up with.

This is our chance to begin to open our eyes and take a real look around, see the signs around us rather than say, "I should have" after the fact. Take part in your community, sitting back and watching is paramount to that nothing I spoke of earlier. Lives are not meant to be wasted and lost in such untimely and gruesome manners. The more that violent behavior is feared and allowed to overtake society, the more likely that you or a loved on will become a victim.

What happened at Virginia Tech was a concentrated look at everyday society, but we somehow seem to be so conditioned to this lifestyle, that the mourning takes place when it affects our families directly, or when it's a tragedy that simply can't be ignored by the media.

Problem is, every time a life ends violently, it can't be ignored.

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