Living in Southern California, we hear about criminal acts committed every day by violent students against school children, teachers, bus drivers, and other school personnel. Years ago, these acts seemed to be just in the poverty-stricken, gang-infested ghetto areas. Now the violence is spreading like a cancer, creeping across city, county, and state lines. How is it that a school that has no gangs, guns, or drive-by shootings can suddenly be the scene of random and terrible violence, as at Littleton, Colorado?

It is often argued that violent movies and TV shows are somehow responsible. Supposedly, if it weren't for them, we would be safe and at peace. Another often-used belief is that guns are responsible; take them away, and we will not be in any danger of these senseless acts of violence. More recently, the family has been attacked for not having a stay-at-home parent during the early years of a child's development, thereby triggering some kind of non-responsible feeling in children.

Personally, I disagree with all these views. Having been in DeMolay for some time now, I have come up with a totally different conclusion as to what causes young men and women to commit violent acts, belong to gangs, and in general show disregard and disrespect to peers and adults.

Man is a gregarious creature. He wants to be with others, mostly with those he can identify with. Note, for example, how here, in Southern California, Vietnamese or Russian immigrants tend to form ethnic communities. They are not forced to do this. The point is that they want the comfort level of being among people who share similar values. It is an occurrence as common as making friends at school or work. People want to feel they "belong."

Young men, in particular, also want to feel "cool" about the group they choose to belong to. We, on the whole, tend to make fun of "nerds" and other "goody-good" types. We categorize groups of teenagers as sports jocks, dope heads, brains, surfers, low-riders, punks, gothics, and the like.

Violence has become the newest add-on to many of these groups. A couple years ago, in the wealthy North Orange County area where people felt immune from gang violence, at a typical high school, his fellow gang members assassinated a Vietnamese honor student. Imagine, a Vietnamese honor student gang! They were considered computer genius types by other kids in their high school, drove lowered Japanese imports souped up to go fast, and were from very wealthy families.

Also, in the Midwest, a place away from the urban ghetto experience and thought to be immune from such violence, a high school student began shooting kids and teachers in school, killing a few and wounding many. He was apparently involved in a deranged kind of devil-worshiping group. These acts had no ties to what most people felt were the traditional stereotypes of poverty-stricken upbringing, broken homes, pressures of being illegal aliens, lack of parental nurturing, or any other excuse often heard in explaining this kind of destructive action.

I also discount the availability of guns as a root cause of violence. Fifty, sixty, or even a hundred years ago, almost every boy in America owned guns, and yet the violence in schools did not exist as it does today.

I believe that there is a more basic reason for this kind of social corruption and that the violent aspect with powerful automatic weapons is only some kind of supposedly "sexy" add-on. Young men and women want to belong especially to a group they can be proud of. They want to feel good about themselves and boast, "Look what I did!" They wish to compete against others for being the "coolest."

This is why I think DeMolay is a great group for young men. It gives them a chance to mature under good values and to be proud they belong to such a group. It allows boys to become friends with others seeking similar values and to have parties, dances, and fun activities while, at the same time, doing something good for the community.

If adults could only help young men fill their need to belong, instead of finding excuses for why kids commit violent acts in schools, I believe these other groups that espouse violence would weaken and, eventually, vanish. If more children and teenagers are involved in some type of extra-curricular activity, in or outside of school, I know violence in schools would lower dramatically.

But how do we get our youth today to become active in all these youth groups? The answer to this is by promoting these groups in their schools and communities. If teachers, councilors, parents, and families truly worked at getting students interested in different youth groups, athletics, or perhaps artistic organizations, I believe we would instill in students that sense of "belonging" with people of similar good qualities. Therefore, nobody would need to turn to gangs or anti-heroes for answers.

There are many worthwhile organizations for students; it is up to us to make them aware of these groups. Once people feel they do not need to use antisocial actions or weapons as a way to establish personal recognition and worth, they will not cause senseless and brutal crimes in their schools or communities. Then, our world will be a safer and happier place to live and grow.

Peter N. Daut is a freshman at El Dorado High School in Placentia, California, where he participates in both water polo and swimming and will be on the varsity squad next year. He maintains a 3.86 academic average while also participating in many outside activities, including DeMolay where he received his PMC–MSA award this year and serves as vice-president of the Orange Empire League. He anticipates completing his Eagle Scout project in September, and this summer, for three weeks in July, he was an U.S. student ambassador to South Africa under a People To People program. He also donates much of his spare time to helping out at the Senior Living Community for Eastern Star in Yorba Linda and at other eldercare facilities. His academic goal is to attend Harvard University as a pre-med student after high school.