Every day conversations with my mother consist of something she saw on Facebook that she wants me to see because it was either funny or entertaining. By the tone of her voice, I knew that this post was not one of them. She seemed shocked and unable to come to the realization of what she had just viewed. She proceeded to tell me what it was that had made her so upset, "A teenager punched an old man and knocked him out cold, for no reason at all." What hurt me the most about this story was hearing the sadness in my mother's tone and realizing that the man could be someone's Though I do not know whose father he was, or if he really was a father at all, I was still conflicted with the fact that this man was a human being.

Allow me to explain what happened, the young man, along with what seemed (from the voices in the background) to be a group of his friends decided to play the game "Knockout". A terrible game whose instructions include running up to any stranger and punching them so hard that they are literally knocked unconscious. This game, and anyone playing it represents the foul of the world and the savage lifestyle they have chosen to live. The boy, however, is responsible for the event because he could have controlled his actions.Yet, by allowing things to escalate the way they did, he created a serious hazard to another person's life.

This event and others like it have frequently occurred in the United States in the last couple of years. Our teenagers are losing respect for their elders and the elders are excusing their behavior. Some questioned whether the teenagers blatant act of disrespect reflected a childhood in which a paternal figure did not exist. Others believed that the elder man may have provoked him or that the teenager was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Yet what no one seems to realize is that whatever the teenager's reason was for hurting the elder man, none of their reasoning excuse what he did to the elder man.

I find it interesting to think about the people that didn't make an appearance on the video like the young man's family who should be outraged by his behavior and ashamed of him. I also thought of the elderly man's family, how must they feel and how are the trying to obtain justice for him? Lastly, I wondered about the future of the young man. It's obvious he never questioned his behavior and if this pattern continues he can end up down a spiraling road to nowhere. The fact that he went along with it was his choice makes him a horrible person. This video didn't just go viral in order to be another example of this sinister game but rather to open our eyes to the bigger issue: our teens are going mad. We need to implement more respect into the next generation by teaching discipline at home and in schools. Get it together, youth of America, get it together.

If you'd like to see the video, brace yourself, and hit play below: