Protect Our Schools
What is it that makes us so sensitive that we can’t take a situation and just shake it off? I think it goes to a deep-rooted problem that many people carry. I call it the “Don’t make me smack you” attitude. I had a kid the other day complaining to me at school that a boy was looking at her! Really? I just asked her, “Could it be possible that he thinks you are pretty?” She did not know what to say.
Why do we suppose that we know why people do what they do or say what they say? Why do we jump to negative conclusions? I think it is a negative self-image that allows other people to trigger our anger. Think about it. If we know who are, we are not defined by what others think or say…and yet we DO care what others think or say. I myself have been guilty of trying to please everyone and end up pleasing no one.
I heard a sad statistic today. You know what is the common thread in all the school shootings (with the exception of one)? Every shooter came from a fatherless home. The one that did have a father was in a dysfunctional home so it might as well have been fatherless. These young men were not given proper parenting, and perhaps even as sad, the warning signs were ignored by authorities that they were at risk of hurting themselves and others.
I pray every day for our kids, our schools, and our country. I know many people use these tragedies to get on the bandwagon of gun control. I do think we need more background checks and training certified for anyone buying a gun…just as we require for a driver’s license. That alone would solve a lot of problems. Here is the dilemma with gun control: crazy people don’t follow the law. They will find the weapons and a way to use them whether or not we have the laws in place. We have to identify who these people are and stop them before they get their hands on a gun. If we fix broken families, we will virtually eliminate the problem. That is our smoking gun. Just my two cents.
Shalom!
Dan Skognes
As a substitute teacher for K-12 and often in different schools and different classrooms, the first thing I often do is check the evacuation route before I look at the lesson plans. This is a sad statement of the reality facing us. School shootings have happened twice in this suburban district, one of which was Columbine. Knowing a teacher who was shot then and walks with a limp at a young age, I take it seriously. We all need to ask ourselves what we would do and how we can support teachers who now face a much more complex work environment. Each student was identified as a threat before each shooting and often was crying out on social media. Why aren’t we listening?
Perhaps it will change when someone of notoriety dies. A sad indictment of our society. We often don’t pay attention until it becomes personal.
Hello, Dan. I usually skip comment sections; but having just read your blog, “Left is Right,” I feel compelled to suggest that you reconsider your logic in this piece, “Protect Our Schools” — which I saw only because I came to read the rest of the “Left is Right” article!
The second half of your last paragraph is quite unsettling to me: You seem to suggest, 1. That all mass shooters are “crazy” people; 2. You so simplistically proffer that “fixing broken families” would be the solution to “virtually eliminate the problem” of mass shootings!
What I find even more shocking is your argument/suggestion/implication/excuse that because “crazy” people (When will we ever settle on a definition of “crazy” and all of the attending nuances?!) “will find the weapons and a way to use them whether or not we have the laws in place,” that somehow this demands that we — as a civilized, humane society — must do nothing to make less available military-type weapons of mass destruction (Forgive me; and I am not trying to be overly dramatic; nor jumping on a bandwagon here!), whose primary (or only?) function is the killing of many/masses in a shorter span of time!
Why would any civilian — sane or “crazy” — need such a weapon?
Think of any of the restrictions with which you agree, or which you implement or impose. Now we apply your logic: There very likely are people who would violate those restrictions; and some might go to great lengths to do so. But you probably think, “That is precisely why we have the restrictions in the first place, to serve as a deterrent; to make it more difficult for such people to do whatever the rule is hoping to prevent or minimize.”
To put this in a family/parenting context: How should the upright parent respond in this situation: At least two of their children are on the verge of drug addiction; but others of their siblings are welcoming drug dealers into the home and stashing the most potent drugs — because it is their right! What could the family do? What should the family do?
If we cannot agree on common-sense gun laws, how in the world could we ever hope to “fix broken families”?
I agree that we pay less attention until it becomes personal. This partly explains the surge in efforts at gun control regulations after every mass shooting. Sadly, I must confess that I am not hopeful that meaningful change will happen any time soon! If the Sandy Hook slaughter did not do it, . . . I shudder to anticipate what might.
In the sad interim, we hope, or fear – “God forbid!”; or we wishfully pretend that it could never happen to our children or us!
Thanks for considering my two cents!
Ok…I will try to answer all of your questions. Due to the length of my blog and restrictions that are imposed by LinkedIn Groups…I can’t give the detail that I sometimes would like to give. Let me address your questions as best I can. First, I do believe that anyone who resorts to mass shootings is mentally ill. You can tag it anyway you like, but a sane person does not do that. Secondly, I never said yay or nay about gun control. I just pointed out the obvious thing that laws don’t apply to crazy people who are bent on killing someone. They will find a weapon and a way to do it. I agree that assault rifles are not necessary in the hands of the general public, but that does not change the fact that they will be bought from other means by those who are hell-bent on using them. I do believe in background checks and licensing firearms, but people who are going to kill a bunch of folks will probably not comply with that either. Just saying. I do believe that the demise of our family structure has put a ripple effect in society that is tragic in every sense. Boys raised in single parent homes are more prone to violent crimes. That is just a fact born out by our penal system. How do we “fix” it? Prayer and repentance. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the answer to the problems we face. Time will tell which way we will turn as a nation. The passage reads: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” That is my hope and my prayer. I will do my part. Thanks for the feedback and your heartfelt concern. Shalom! Dan