My sadness has turned into anger at the horror of the killing of 26 innocent and beautiful children and their teachers. We can cast our blame in so many ways; towards the young man who perpetrated this violence; towards his mother who bought those guns; towards the mental health system that we might feel is not doing enough, towards our government and our laws.

But until we take personal responsibility little will change in our environment. Our generation has created a culture of violence. Let's face the truth. Let's stop rationalizing it. We, as a culture, glorify violence. It's our entertainment. It's in our books, in our movies, in our video games. It is everywhere.

You know it and I know it and until we stop funding this violence machine, until we stop making excuses we will see more of what happened this weekend. Every time we buy a gun, buy a violent video game, go to see a violent movie, read a violent book, watch a violent TV show, settle a dispute in anger, disrespect and hate others, we contribute to the collective culture of violence. The changes must start with each one of us.

Are you willing?