Originally published on Unwritten by Kylie Stigar-Burke.
Unfortunately after school last week, I discovered the news of two campus shootings in one day after only one week of separation from the large campus shooting.
There are too many schools to remember them all. There are too many victims to actively recall all of their names - the ones we recall at all are probably confused with other students from other schools. There are too many families broken from senseless murder like what we have experienced not only in the last week or two, but easily the last 15 years.
Simply speaking, I think we are reverting as a society. We are still a society that can't discuss politics openly without argument. I can't bring up feminist ideas without receiving eye rolls. Racism is still widely prevalent. It is 2015 and we can barely make peaceful conversation with one another for fear of being offensive. Some schools have voted to take the Pledge of Allegiance out of their system entirely.
Where are we headed if we continue on this path?
For one, the signs are sometimes all too clear of someone's intentions, it is simply that we as a society are all too afraid to get our hands dirty and say something. I can't speak for all of the school shootings because I do not have the time to research every single case that has occurred this year alone and I would never have enough time to research every case ever. I can say, however, that there are signs that point to mental instability. I will not attribute these incidents as mental illness because there are millions of people with depression, bipolar, etc. that do not murder handfuls of innocents.
What I'm saying is there are signs that show when someone can be capable of large scale, violent acts. Actually, a good friend from France informed me that we can test for these signs, as well. We should go through and test our kids the way we test them for scoliosis. To be completely honest, there is nothing at all wrong with needing to talk to someone about that thoughts you think in your head. If they become overwhelming, talk to someone and they can help you through it. We need to recognize that mental instability is a very real thing. If we can help them (and I do say help, not force or humiliate because some people interpret psychologists as a place for loony people), we can teach them coping mechanisms to allow them to express themselves in a healthy, nonviolent manner. But again, we need to know what to look for and I believe we could test and find out. It's not like we don't have plenty of cases to look at and compare.
We need to start paying attention to our children. Look at what they are drawing and writing. Listen to what they are saying. Allow them to sort out their feelings in healthy ways. We are not cavemen. We are a country filled with loving families who would do anything to better their child, but we also need to be aware of the dangers that surround our schools now, because at the moment, the risk is too high. There are too many universities, too many students, too much sadness for this to continue.
There is too much fear.
We are not cavemen. We, as a society and culture, need to open our eyes and start paying attention to one another! If we genuinely started looking around and caring about the well-being of our neighbors, we could get past this. I really think that.