I grew up in a small town, not far from the beach called Brick Town, New Jersey. Twelve years ago, it was the nicest place. I remember riding bikes down different streets and exploring in the trails in the woods with my friends. It was a simple life we lived in Brick. Once I got to high school it was amazing. I had it pegged as the best four years of my life. We had Friday night football games, basketball games and so much more. Pep rallies were always one of my favorite parts of high school. We could stay out late at the inlet on weekends, cut through Maple Leaf to get to school because you’re running late to school and so much more.

After I went to college, I had come back to visit my old high school. After talking to my teachers and reading articles I saw on Facebook, I had realized how much different Brick really is from when I was in school. It was different now for kids. They didn’t explore trails in the woods or ride bikes everywhere or anything. It shouldn’t be that way because it has only been two years since graduation. Ever since I left it, there has been non-stop violence in Brick. Shootings, drugs, knives and everything in between and because of these things some people have lost their lives. I am not just talking about adults because they aren’t even the problem: it’s the teenagers.

Students think now that violence is okay and that drugs don’t affect your life. I have news for those students, they do. Every action you do now until forever can affect the rest of your life. Recently there was a drug bust just down the road from me that apparently was an on going project for the police. They finally busted the group of people, all 18 of them. 18 people. That’s mind blowing to me. In another complex, a man delivering pizza had been stabbed. The community had become toxic. To the point that some people just want to move away from it all because they just don’t feel safe anymore.

However, it was not just people in the community that were changing; it was in the schools as well. Granted, when I was in school students had some trouble with fights but this time it’s much different. Students are threatening to shoot up the schools pep rallies or bringing knives to school. To make this an easy fix they try to make the schools more “safe,but that’s not all you can do. There has to be something more to prevent it or to raise awareness to the students. Young adults are the future, but there wont be a future for some if the violence wont stop.

When I was in school, it was a safe place for me to go. I loved Brick because of how safe it was. It was a good town to grow up in. That’s just it. When people ask me where my hometown is, I don’t say it with pride like I used to. I don’t talk about Brick in present tense anymore. I don’t think people realize just how different this town is. I don’t want it to take a bigger tragedy than what we have already had to have the town wake up and realize that changes need to be made to make Brick a safe town again. Some people might not understand the things that I wrote in this article, let alone agree with them. I ask you to take a step back and look at the town we have and once had, compare the two. The similarities, the differences, then you’ll see what I mean. I ask that the words I wrote would raise awareness and bring back the pride we used to have. The pride we had when we were asked, “What’s your hometown?” In response we would say “Brick” with such pride. I only wish it could be like that again.