Austin Jackson

(Motivational Essayist)

    Dan Neumann (Editor): Let me introduce you all to Austin Jackson, an eight grader from the Texan school, Crenshaw, of the Galveston Independent School District. His literary talents have been overlooked in a recent competition. Please do not let Austin be overlooked again. He has plenty of potential, which more than certainly justifies the read.

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Communication Defeats Ignorance

          Loss, pain, hate, time: those so-called gifts were forced upon me. Ten, an age of careless fun and chosen obliviousness, was torn from my hopeless hands. Misery, and suffering is the only gifts you’ll receive when exchanging violence. Divorce is the cursed gift I obtained, even though I committed no crime, wrong, or violent deed. Summer once was a time for friends and family; now it only brings back memories of how my friends were left behind. And, as for my family: violently ripped into two pathetic clans, diminishing from a large healthy, caring family to silently warring, barbarian troops. Assault rings in my crying ears as the school bells alert me to what time of the year it is, the wretched, unthinkable awareness. This is the age I realized the hell many people are dragged through.

           Anger, alcohol, drugs, and difference are a few of the many unreasonable causes of violence. Some people, due to a past experience or other situation, let so much anger build up and then take it out on an innocent by-stander. Anger has been the source of many conflicts between people. Think of incidents like at Columbine. A child, so infuriated with the way he has been treated by others – so enraged – allowed his consciousness to be set aside, letting himself destroy the perpetrators’ lives, and even those that were innocent.  The rampage and carnage may appear to only occur here and there, but it is rapidly increasing.  Although it may not appear to be the magnitude of a “Columbine,” anger is still running mad even close to home.  Just recently, in the news, we watched on every local station in the Houston/Galveston area, reports of a sixteen year old Houston student being murdered right outside of his school.  The reports indicated that a rival gang was angered by this student’s possible drug involvement in their area and ultimately their resolution was to remove another soul.

           With an uncontrolled mind, induced by consuming too much alcohol, anyone can take a simple gesture to be a horrible insult, worthy of fighting over. This is one of the causes which led to my parents’ divorce. Drinking excess amounts of alcohol can lead a person to be very irritable, unreasonable, and irresponsible.  For some reason, people have a drink and tend to believe that they are invincible, bullet proof, and untouchable.  A “shot” here, a “shot” there and all of a sudden parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins become rabid wolves, trying to determine who is really the alpha.  No longer do they communicate, compromise, or discuss anything, but force to overcome their disagreements.  Alcohol becomes their mediation.  The more they drink, the more irresistible it becomes creating a false of sense of superiority.  Alcohol simply creates a new person with a new sinister attitude.  Not all alcoholics become violent. It appears, however, that more abuse and deaths are reported in the news that has involved alcohol than non-alcoholic related injuries or fatalities.    

           Still, not all violence can be contributed to anger, alcohol and drugs.  Difference has erupted into violence over and over again.  Instead of acceptance and equality, violence tends to win the battle over peace.  For example, in the 1940’s, the world found itself encountering the volatile menacing force of Hitler.  Accepting people’s differences was not a choice for Hitler and Nazi followers.  Their resolution: the extinction of all those that were different.  Not by exile or removal… Hitler and the Nazis practiced genocide, attempting to violently wipe out entire races, religions, and anyone with a disability.  They believed that they were superior, and the only way to deal with any difference was to wipe it out.  Even our own country has committed violent, racist, and horrible acts against cultures and people they didn’t understand. As early as the settling of America, different races have been warring.  Most Native Americans have been extinguished because of their uniqueness and beliefs. Then, once again, repeating itself, history mandated that a different race be treated unfairly and violently enslaved. Instead of creating a compromise, an unnatural hurricane swept across America, unleashing a hate strong enough to turn father against son and sibling against sibling until Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” established a possible resolution.

           Amazingly enough, the answer to violence stares us, constantly, in the eye.  It is what sets us apart from animals, the ability to communicate and choose to accept our surroundings, regardless of what or whom may be in it.  Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 and Adolf Huxley in Brave New World demonstrate a society without differences in their novels and the worlds are bleak, uninteresting, and pathetic.  Once the primary characters realize the importance of words and differences, the world becomes alive, interesting, and – finally – breathing.  The solution to violence through communication and acceptance of differences could be understood if more people embrace reading novels that demonstrate how important individuality is.  The solution is so close, yet we, as a society, choose not to grasp it.  Communication and acceptance is the key to understanding, forgiving, and moving on in a flourishing society.  Through words, we accept, understand, and think—and so non-violent agreements can be reached.