The topic of violence is a recurrent theme in the media today. We all see it on the nightly news where we find out about the latest homicide or act of violence among the people who live in the lower class areas of Philadelphia. However, as many of us are middle and upper class white Americans the news reports are just topics of discussion among friends at school and work the next day. We see these incidents as random acts of violence performed by the savage "street people" that either have been brought up the wrong way or who kill one another just for the sake of the act. It is easy for us to criticize the lives of these people when we sit in our nice home eating a good home cooked meal or walking down the street in suburbia. However, if you look deeper into the nature of these crimes you may gain a new insight into what motivates people to behave in this way. I am in no way condoning the act of violence towards anyone because it is my personal belief that there are always more ways than one to resolve a situation. I am just attempting to present a new perspective on the act of violence in order to give people a better understanding of why it occurs so frequently in lower class neighborhoods.
The street way of life is much different than the life that you and I live. It's not too often that I walk out of my home thinking to myself that I may be put in a situation where my life is in jeopardy today. I would not walk down the street with a friend or family member of mine wondering if I was going to have to use the gun in my pocket to protect them. To someone living on the street, survival is a way of life. Therefore, in order to survive in an environment such of this, one must gain as much respect from his peers as possible. The more respect a person has, the less likely that conflict will arise and the longer that person will survive on the streets. One may ask why so much conflict would arise between individuals of the same community.