Each year, Money Magazine produces a list of the best places to live in America. I remember one year they chose Fort Collins, Colo. This small community, home of Colorado State University, is nestled at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and has a lifestyle that appeals to many urban dwellers. Many have moved to Fort Collins to escape the rat race of big city life. One of the things I noted about Fort Collins, along with all the other communities on the list, was a low crime rate.
In case you did not know, the murder rate in our country is steadily increasing. This is not something most of us think about daily, but it is becoming more of a problem in our nation, especially in our larger cities. Most have trended toward a more violent society. Just recently a University of Miami football player was murdered, along with another who played for the Denver Broncos. Sometime back in Little Rock, we had a young bank teller who was shot in the back during a robbery. To be sure, no Chamber of Commerce likes to talk about crime, especially murder, because that kind of news won’t attract many people to want to come live there.
Yet, we know from all accounts that the quality of life is one of the things we should all look for in choosing a new place to live. Here in Conway, Arkansas, we even have a quality-of-life council. While it’s not a pretty thing to say, the quality of life only applies to those of us still living, and not to those who have been murdered.
With your permission, I would like to redirect my focus a bit and say that rather than focus on the quality of life, that we turn our focus to the quality of people. It is the people in any community who make it a great place to live. Over the past several decades we have become a nation of sports fanatics. We have gone from having a competitive spirit of always wanting to win, to one of wanting to win at all costs. There are many reasons for this, but like everything else, the major reason is money.
What does the Bible say about money? It says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money, but the love of money. When both players and coaches are making astronomical amounts of money, you have changed the dynamics of the game itself. Please understand that I am not saying that it is sports that are causing an increase in crime, especially murder, but it is contributing to the increasingly violent society in which we are living. When you combine this with illiteracy, illegal drug use, gangs, and a myriad of addictions, you have a snapshot for what the future holds.
As a people, we must look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “Is this what we really want? Are we content to continue as we have in the past and see our society increasingly more violent with more crime and more murder that reaches down even to the smallest communities? Just something to think about.
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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. For a personalized copy of “Keep Your Fork” send $25, which includes postage and handling and tax, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)