December 15, 2014, Peshawar, Pakistan. One hundred and thirty-two students are massacred in a classroom designed for learning and life, not death. Now the future life-blood stains the walls, floors, papers, clothes, and innocence of the living. Nine faculty slain at the hands of the Taliban; the heartless. But it is far more damning than simply not having a heart. They have no honor, no remorse, no guilt, no humanity, no compassion in their wretched frames. No. Nothing. The Taliban are the soulless.

    I bore the news to my mother. Kids mine own age lay dead in a school and the living wracked with the slideshow of death and damnation they lived through. She said something that resonated deep within me, “[those in the Taliban] are so angry at everyone and hate everyone that they simply want to kill everyone.” Yes the soulless. Worse than the mental disorder that drags people to suicide. Oh no suicide looks merciful compared to the mental wretches of the Taliban bent on eliminating humanity itself.

    And as every growing and aging person did once hearing of the Soulless, I thought. A most dangerous weapon that is just as forgiving as it is relentless. I compared the Taliban to the cultivation of society. A dangerous thought, and just as enlightening.

    The Taliban, so angry at the world and everything in it, beauty and gratification lost to them. But how did they become The Soulless? They had souls once, had feelings once, had humanity once, simply because they were human. And then their perspective on the world narrowed and paled into darkness. While we may never know why or what pushed them over the edge; there is a startling resemblance to the young generation. The generation that was slaughtered by the ones I am comparing them to.
    As a generalization, society sees the glass as half empty. The United States of America is trillions of dollars in debt, faith in humanity is fading, we can’t trust our neighbors, obesity is dominant, depression and suicide have claimed our idols, drugs and murder are common, racial issues still arise, we see joy in petty Hollywood catfights, we love to see the scandal, the impurity of someone else, and the deceit of our politicians.  Yes, we are a stained grey spot on the Earth. And we revel in it. Waiting for some one to pity us and make excuses when there are none, and so we become pessimistic. We have given up on happiness and turned against one another, and there are so many people in the country that is hardly plausible to be unified without an event like 9/11 in our own country. Let alone another’s.

America is an unhappy nation, and so what do we teach our children? Do we teach them the good of humanity? Do we teach them the soft side of human nature and expect them to see it in others? No, we do not. We prepare our children how to survive in a war zone. The war of life that we have known. The life where there is always someone better than you, someone richer than you, someone smarter than you, someone prettier than you. The world that causes insecurities and bullying. The world that causes suicide, depression, and self-harm. The world that causes us to shrink in and not reach out. The world that we have formed because of Photoshop and phones. I am not here to lecture about the sorry state of ourselves, but it rubs off on the maturing.

So many times I have seen a teenager’s shortsighted tweet, or Facebook post, or Instagram photo that calls out how they hate everyone. From a friend’s twitter, “Being attractive would be nice.” “I feel bad for you terrible Bitches.” “I’ll never understand what the f*** goes through some people’s heads” “I have no problem with cutting people off… less bullshit for me to deal with.” “I think it’s funny how people don’t have anything better to do besides talk about people” “Why even try” the list of angry tweets, vengeful responses, entertained bystanders, and innocent victims is endless. There is an entire account dedicated as “I HATE EVERYONE” and each tweet starts with “I HATE people who…” Well, I am one hundred percent sure that if you went through that page far enough, something you do will be mentioned and that is all it takes for you to be hated. Because this young generation of mass media and technology hates everyone, haven’t you heard?

    Sound familiar? “[those in the Taliban] are so angry at everyone and hate everyone that they simply want to kill everyone.” My mom’s quote pertaining to the Taliban. So while we squander our happiness away and raise a new generation, just think are we raising the future of The Soulless? Or the future Americans?