My football coach said to me, "Brockton is what you make of it." I am a strong believer in this. But the problem is that there are more people making it worse than there are people making it better. A big part of this is in the schools. Not only does my ten-year-old brother come home to tell me about all the fights he was in that day, but I see them take place as well.

I see a new fight every couple of days. Most of the time it's for a stupid reason like someone's shoes being stepped on, or someone's ignorance. And these fights have changed. They aren't like they used to be when there was a winner and a loser. Now the losing party retaliates with knives, or guns, or all their friends. Fighting like this has become second nature for too many people in the school system. There's no such thing as one-on-one, and talking things out has become a myth.

This violence must stop. These people must realize that this senseless behavior will not get them through life. If it's bad now, with not much effort, it's going to get even worse. n