NIKA LEANDRA'S BOOKS

LOVE - The Missing Link  Merry Christmas to everyone! - Especially the last few weeks have been tough to watch the news here as altercations of all different kinds are occurring more and more frequently. The crazy media hype is just the topping on a cake of a current sequence of violent acts which although well seasoned still misses the key ingredient LOVE. Unreal indeed the potpourri of incidents and happenings within the month of December alone. First a guy snaps in an argument and pushes his opponent off the platform right onto the rails of an approaching subway train. Another man shoots someone in cold blood execution style in broad day light in NYC. Then that horrific school massacre which was preceded by the serial killer shooting his own mother in the face while asleep. Plus a handful of shootings that killed another ten people. The latest and for sure on top of the most heinous crimes list just occurred on Christmas Eve near Buffalo, NY. An older fellow with quite a violent past, released on parole after beating his grandmother to death with a hammer over thirty years ago, illegally possessed an arsenal of fire arms. Yesterday he set several houses on fire whereupon numerous fire trucks were called on site. On their arrival, that sicko -who obviously had mental issues- fired a couple of rounds and killed two firemen. I could go on and on talking about a lot more incidents that happen here in Upstate NY on an almost daily base but are just not nationally covered by the media. Indisputably too much violence is happening all over the place. The more we hear or see, the less sensitive we become as we seem to eventually get used to it. Generally speaking, what is wrong with our society? Social misfits and outcasts have always and forever co- existed amongst us. However, what has been going on lately is just disgusting. Why is it that more and more people fly off the handle in ways that involve crowded places and randomly picked victims and thus provide the foundation for newly- coined terms such as "going ballistic" or "going postal" depending on the nature and extent of crime? It doesn't take rocket science or profound psychiatric profiling to come to the simple conclusion that a lot of us lack empathy, compassion and love for each other.
In my opinion, the seed carries no respect for either oneself or one another, and that's just no good perspective as far as anticipating rich and well- balanced growth. This is not per se the parents' fault but society's lack of religious and spiritual responsibility. In a country of abundant religious freedom and choices, I sadly see a noticeably steep decline of practicing believers. We are dealing with a growing proportion of atheists, non- believers and non- spiritual humans. If nothing matters in life as nothing seems to be worthwhile anyway, why bother, right? Where there is no love and respect for oneself, there just can't be much of empathy and compassion for others. I truly believe, it's that simple! Do not take religious and spiritual education out of the equation as these are the pillars of our all emotional and mental conscience. We need to make sure that we all wake up after all.
An en- souled being will ultimately refrain from whimsically and deliberately causing harm to others but will learn to cherish life instead.