Last night I was laying in bed thinking of South Park and their season premier. It was so upsetting, but not because of the horrific story line. Let’s be honest, that is what our life has become. There is shooting after shooting, but it’s not in the same place so we convince ourselves, that’s okay. We tell ourselves it will never be our child, it will never happen here or hey it can’t happen twice. Well it happens over and over again all over the United States. We let statistics make us think it’s okay, that it is rare. Honestly, it is becoming more common place. We are defending this new norm to our children. We are having drills at school, not for disasters but from a person. How can we still let this happen?Â
I worry that this episode will make some youth crying for attention do something that will destroy their lives and the lives of so many. The number is never known because some are successfully stopped, so why aren’t we learning from our mistakes and our success? I am afraid to send my kids to school and I think maybe I just won’t send them tomorrow. Then I wonder why we send them at all. We never knowingly put our children in danger, we eliminate all risks that we can and accept there are some things we can’t change. Well this is something we can change. What if we stop sending our children to unsafe schools? We would never go to work if we thought our lives were in danger. Why are we sending our kids into it? Our kids did walk outs and they were criticized, why aren’t we supporting them and demanding change. More counselors, smaller classes, give these kids the attention they deserve. Reward them with praise and positivity and punish and find out why people are acting out, never give up on them and get them the help they need. If we stop bullying and give better support maybe we can end the shooting. There has to be something better than continuing to do nothing.Â
I’m not naivee in thinking this will happen overnight. However, it is going to happen with a bunch of small changes that will start to make a big difference. Ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away. Being more involved in our children’s lives will make a difference. Being there for their friends whose parents can’t be. The old saying goes, “It takes a village.†When did we stop being involved? The schools cannot take acts of violence so lightheartedly, there needs to start being real consequences. Now I am not saying life destroying consequences but stuff that will really make a kid sit down and think about what they did. We cannot count on parents to punish their kids for things that happen at school because honestly they may not know. The school can set zero tolerance policies, acts of bullying require mandatory psych evaluations, those being bullied need someone to talk to. Let’s work at this problem from all sides and we can start to make a difference and change the world.Â