Before I went to school this morning, I saw a few news reports about all the crazy stuff that happened in downtown Chicago on the Fourth of July.  If you live in the Chicagoland area, then you've probably seen it too.  

I've never heard about things getting so out of control in Chicago on the holidays.  A man was shot at Navy Pier.  I've spent so many good times at Navy Pier.  I went on the Ferris wheel, I've gone to the Winter Wonderland a couple of times, I've gone on boat tours with my family and my school for an eighth grade field trip, and I've been to the Shakespeare Theatre many times from when I went to see Seussical the Musical to going on high school field trips.  When I heard about this outrageous occurrence, it ruined my image of what was a very fantastic place in my mind.  There was also a mishap at Springer Field, where I have gone to in the past to see baseball games with a very close friend.  After hearing about that news report, I began to associate Springer field with the violent events that occurred there that day rather than the good times I've shared there with my friend.

My family and I go into downtown Chicago quite often.  We used to own an apartment down there, we've gone to see the window displays in Macy's during the holiday season, and I've gone to youth orchestra practices that were taking place there.  I also have plans to go to the Chicago Comicon with my family, but I can't feel entirely safe going there if I have the memories of the pandemonium that happened on the Fourth of July.

The violence going on in Chicago doesn't just affect the hundreds of people that get killed or at the least injured.  Lots of innocent people are left scared and deprived of what they want.  My old school was near the inner city, and on the bus ride to school, I saw a lot of shops with their doors boarded up with metal.  This is what the store owners do when there is danger in the neighborhood.  The store owners are scared, and the people who want to go into those stores to buy things are disappointed that they can't go in to get the things they need to buy and are just as scared as the store owners.  There was this cycle sports class for summer school at my old school that sounded really exciting to me; we got to bike al the way to the beach and play sports there!  Sadly, I never got put into that class.  I learned that it was more for students who could keep their cool in intense situations, such as someone getting injured and having to get an ambulance or getting caught in the middle of a gunfight.  Just thinking about what would happen if I were in a situation like that frightens me.  I then accepted with great disappointment that that class just wasn't for me.

It's time that we did something about this issue; we can't keep going on saying that there's nothing we can do about it and that it's just going to be that way.  We must remind ourselves that violence doesn't solve problems, but only causes more.  It all starts with one person.  That person can set an example for others or even cause a chain reaction.  When you're having a hard time with a problem or are upset with someone, be rational about it instead of losing your cool.  If you're at a crowded concert and someone bumps into you, just remind yourself that it's no big deal; people bump into each other all the time.  If you're stuck on traffic on the way to a concert, just tell yourself that the traffic won't last forever and that it won't be the end of the world if you're late; there are many times when people have gotten stuck in traffic and ended up late for something, and their lives weren't over just because they were late.  Take other people's perspectives into view.  That person who bumped into you was doing nothing but trying to move through the crowd, so you should forgive him and let it go.  Everyone else in the traffic jam is just as frustrated as you are, so you should leave them all alone and not push them off the edge just because you're getting impatient.

Violence occurs everyday, and only rational thinking and putting yourself in others' shoes can stop it.  Mankind has the power to prove they are better than the criminals we hear about on the news; someone just has to show it first.