Roots of Violence

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Do you know what causes violence? Are you born with it or is it the environment you live in? Are you able to determine what’s right from wrong? There’s people who may know right from wrong but still tend to be violent. The roots of violence are caused from environmental factors such as bad neighborhoods, no guidance, and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). What is normal to you may not seem normal to others. Certain activities in one neighborhood may seem abnormal in another neighborhood. In Francis Flaherty’s essay “The Ghetto Made Me Do It”, she explains that “In the girl’s neighborhood and in her family, Shellow argued, violence is norm”. Living in a bad neighborhood, a person can get used to hearing police sirens, gun shots, and brawls. For Felicia, violence was normal because she grew up with it. She lived in the ghettos where violence was common. People who are born with violence will get used to it. So for them it’s not going to be a big deal to steal or have a weapon in their pocket. Moreover, someone who has no guidance doesn’t know any morals, so violence may seem right. Morgan had no guidance and was always abused. Flaherty stated that, “Her mother put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her.” The one person that’s supposed to be Morgan’s guidance turns out to be her enemy. Children and people who have families like Morgan’s do not know any better. Unlike someone who has guidance will know that violence is not a path to take. In addition to bad neighborhoods and having no guidance there’s also another cause to violence. PTSD is a medical disorder that is caused by a tragedy in life. Usually, veterans have PTSD because they saw many catastrophic events while at war. Once they come back home they will act different because they’re suffering from this disorder. Morgan’s life can be compared to the veterans because it was
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