Another shooting
Y’all have heard a million times that I volunteer for Ribbon of Promise, the National Campaign to End School Violence.
Y’all have probably heard about the school shooting in Red Lion, Pa., today, in which a 14-year-old boy shot his principal and then himself.
Have you read Dawn Olsen’s Blogcritics article on Kids Who Kill? If not, do so immediately.
And for your viewing pleasure, you can read my fabulous article on school violence and what I believe is its root cause, which is bullying, whether by parents or peers. It goes to press tonight. And it’s not that I think counselors can solve the world’s problems, but that’s my audience, so I have tailored accordingly.
Anywho, shit’s gotta stop. Look, all kids hate school — that’s acceptable. But what’s not acceptable is when these kids retaliate to the point where they make headlines. I was sometimes scared to go to school because I didn’t feel like being picked on, but I didn’t ever fear getting shot or having my school cafeteria blown up.
There’s something I forgot to put in the article … if someone walks into a crowded cafeteria and stands in the main entrance, shooting … run out a side door! Too many of these schools lock those so-called “emergency exits” during the school day. Um, don’t! People instinctively run toward the exit in which they entered … something these shooters count upon. Do you really want to get closer to the kid with the ammo? Wake up, people.
At any rate, I guarantee that it will turn up that the kid from Red Lion, Pa., was a victim of bullying. It has been noted in several news outlets that it is highly doubted that the kid even had a problem with the principal he shot, because he wasn’t known to be a troublemaker and therefore never actually got sent to the big guy’s office. My feeling is that the kid was ostacized or humiliated, and he went to the person whom he viewed as being responsible for everything that goes on at the school. We can’t let it get to that point. We just can’t — those are our kids out there in these schools. Those are people from our communities, our families going to work every day and not knowing when or if there’s going to be a bullet with their names on it in store for them on that particular day.