Quote Originally Posted by peggy View Post
I think Mrs. M was referring to the fact that a 20 year old often hasn't the life experience or maturity to hold their emotions in check. A 20 year old is still a kid, in many ways, and I'm guessing she is thinking of the many stressful situations, school, girlfriends, new jobs, etc...where someone with very little 'life experience' might find themselves with very spun up emotions and not have the skill to deal with it.
Mrs. M was quite clear in what she said, but that doesn't take away from what you're saying here. And I don't disagree with you. What I said was gun specific, since that is our topic here. At 20 or 14 or 51, there has never been any time in that span where putting a gun in my hand would have been a dangerous thing to do. When I said it was unthinkable that anyone in my high school would have ever used a gun against another person I meant it. Our parents, usually our fathers, made sure that is how we operated or we would have never touched a gun or a car or a drink...

The examples you gave perfectly illustrate that the world has changed. I completely and totally agree with you and creaker and anyone else that says we are all screwed up regarding what behavior is acceptable. It was devastating when my girlfriend gave me the boot, but I NEVER thought about hurting someone else as a way to express my emotions. Being hurt and confused and overwhelmed and emotional are very much a part of growing up. Being violent is not. We were all taught that violence was only an option if you were threatened. Now it seems to be the first reaction to everything. I don't know where the disconnect between then and now is exactly, but there is one (or maybe several). Maybe we should be working a little harder to figure that out.