Individuals

Everybody is disgusted with serial killings, school shootings, online scams, and unscrupulous used car sales.  I hear people asking, "What has happened to our society?" or similar, like-minded sentiment.  I know all the sociologists can trace these things to flaws in our society, but if we're honest about it, it's individuals that are responsible for all of them.  We all live in this same society, but most of us do not kill people, or behave fraudulently, or anything like that.  So what's the difference between the good guys and the bad guys?

We choose who we become.

Deciding who we become isn't done in a vacuum, though.  There is a societal role, without question.  Most of these people that we disdain have stories that would shock those of us who won the lottery at birth.  They've been unloved, mistreated, and find themselves in tough circumstances.

What have we done for them?

Sure, you didn't shoot anyone, but when is the last time you befriended someone not because of what you might benefit from the friendship but just because Jesus told you to love people?  What do you do to help the poor, the fatherless, the scared, the abused?  Maybe you aren't the abuser (maybe you are and don't even realize the harm you are causing to others around you), but have you done anything for the abused?

If you have chosen to do nothing, can you blame someone else for choosing something unfortunate out of desperation?

Society is made up of individuals.  Are you the problem, or the solution?