Once Upon a Time

A boy took a stone
And struck his brother dead
The stone was taken away
And the boy was bashed until he ceased to move

A boy took at spear
And stabbed his brother dead
The spear was taken away
And the boy's flesh was pierced until his body had no blood

A boy took a sword
And lanced his brother dead
The sword was taken away
And the boy's head was severed from the shoulders which it sat

A boy took a gun
And shot his brother dead
The gun was taken away
And the leaders of the people came up with some ideas

The gun must be evil
They decided together
It's taken innocent lives
And this gun has caused an epidemic of killing and violence

We must banish all evil
They chanted, destroying the guns
They worked and they worked
Until not a single gun could be found in all of the land

Now finally we can rest
They proclaimed with pride
We are now safe from evil
Go to your homes and reside in peace for we have saved you

A boy took a knife
...

Cerra Hawkins

I do not believe in capital punishment, nor do I necessarily oppose gun control. Rather, this was written in an attempt to point out a serious flaw in problem solving that seems to be rampant in our society, and that is, basing a solution off something other than the root of the problem. This particular topic seems to prevail in that regard.