Why “I CARE” about school shootings…

We are looking at school shootings incorrectly.

• The young men, and it will almost always be young men guaranteed, who carry out these actions are not “evil monsters” born to create mass carnage and death in our nation’s schools. They are not fueled by “the Devil” or “filled with evil”, but created and developed within our own society.
• Schools are NOT targets for these young men because they are “soft targets”. They are targets because a particular school is the place school shooters associate with all loss of help and hope in their own life.
• School shooters motivations will ALWAYS include a desire for others to experience the pain, chaos, confusion, and hopelessness they feel in their own lives, and this is also a major factor in why they choose schools. They will also believe that others are incapable of understanding the depth of the suffering in their own lives and that they are “on their own”.
• School shooters will feel they do not “belong” in society. They will also feel they are “beyond” all help in life and their actions no longer “matter”. However, they choose their actions because they want to be “noticed”.
• School shootings happen because a shooter has access to guns and has lost hope in life, and having armed teachers within a school will not alter the “psychology” of a school shooter. Once the “final” decision to take action has been made, there is “nothing to lose”.
• There is never a moment when an individual who is planning a school shooting becomes “unhelpable”. The ONLY belief a school shooter needs to NOT pull the trigger is that they are VALUED in this life. If there is SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE who cares, the likelihood of a school shooting becomes minimal.
• School shootings do NOT have to happen.

As an American, as a person who has worked in schools, as a person who cares deeply about education and as a person concerned about the safety of my own family and the youth in this country, I CARE about school shootings.

I do NOT share these words freely. It is actually painful to me to write these words and to admit some of my past. I would MUCH rather bury these words deep within my own conscience and let them be, hidden. But the time has come and there are reasons to share.

I am a person who knows what it feels like to lose all hope. I am a person who knows what it feels like to not “belong” in this world. I am a person who knows what it feels like to curse the moment you wake in the morning because it simply means you have to suffer one more day. I am a person who knows what it feels like to hold a knife in my hand and wish I was not so afraid of pain. I am a person that knows if I had access to a gun when I was younger, I would not be alive today. I am a person who knows intimately the unendurable desperation life can create. I am a person who knows what it feels like to want to die, to need to die, actually.

I am also a person lucky enough to be surrounded by people who love me and care for me, ALWAYS. I am a person who knows what it feels like to have people around me who will NEVER GIVE UP! Even if I wanted them to, once upon a time. I am a person who knows the power of connection to others, even when you feel you are not worthy. I am a person who has been SO lucky in life.

School shootings can be stopped. School shootings should be stopped. But actions are required. I don’t portend to know all the actions and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I do know this. Access to guns, especially assault rifles, must be limited, if not eliminated. More important, to myself and the country as a whole, is the need, ABSOLUTE NEED, for every child in this country to KNOW they are loved. To KNOW they are cared for. To KNOW they are valued. To KNOW they belong. I am alive today because of these two realities. Many are NOT alive today because of these two realities. This is why “I CARE”, always.

 

 

 

 

Please Listen to the Youth…

If you don’t want to be bit while swimming in the ocean, you should avoid shark-infested waters. 

• You DO want to find beaches that have taken measures and implemented precautions that limit sharks in the water.
• You DO NOT want to find beaches that have introduced ways to attract more sharks into the area.

It is time for us to listen to the youth of this country. The youth of this country have been trying to tell us important information about their lives for years, decades even, and even if we have listened, we have not taken the actions needed to make things better. The time has come to make things better.

I do not know if it is possible to stop school shootings in this country. However, I do know this. The more assault rifles that are present in this country, the more likely it is that someone who has ill intentions will have access to this gun. The easier the access to such guns, the higher the likelihood they will be used in such catastrophic situations. This is pretty simple statistics, which I learned in a school where I did not worry about someone attacking myself and my classmates with an assault rifle. I NEVER had that concern.

The children of this country, OUR children, OUR country, are afraid to go to school. They were afraid after Columbine. They were afraid after Sandy Hook. They were afraid last week. They are STILL afraid, and they are telling us about their lives. And we STILL refuse to listen.

More guns makes about as much sense as more sharks. Our children are speaking. Please listen.

Devastated… and MOTIVATED

I have spent my whole life trying to remain on the “fringe”. The “outside”. To NOT be part of the process. Hell, I spent nearly five years in a different country trying to run away from the rights and responsibilities I am lucky enough to experience as an American citizen. NO LONGER! The news on Monday morning has left me devastated.

The time has come for me, and hopefully so many others who might feel inadequate or unable or unmotivated or undeserving of a voice or just simply too damn tired or overwhelmed most of the time, to step up and add voices, purposeful voices, to the direction and discourse this country will pursue now and in the future. This is the beginning of my contribution.

“My right to defend my family exceeds your need to feel safe in your fantasy world without guns.” These words were printed upon a photo of a mother (presumably) holding an assault rifle.

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. What I now question is the ability of any assault rifle to offer any “protection” to any member of any person’s own family. The events that happened in Las Vegas this past Sunday night should cause every one of our traditional thought patterns about guns, gun violence and gun regulations to be challenged.

Whether or not you own an assault rifle, or any gun for that matter, if you or your family member were a part of the crowd listening to some country music this past Sunday, there was imminent danger. The worst part, there was nothing you or anyone else could do, independent of whether you had a gun or not. The shooting that happened this past Sunday night was different. It was extremely well thought-out and strategically executed and designed solely to create the most amount of chaos and damage in the shortest amount of time. And it was ONLY possible with guns that simulated the actions of an attack rifle.

EVERYONE in that crowd was in danger. Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Sisters, Brothers, Lovers… EVERYONE! It seems to me, if we TRULY care about our families, our friends, those we love the most and those with whom we share this country, it is time to think differently about assault rifles. Whatever “protection” assault rifles might offer those who buy them has been challenged. Is the “protection” these guns and accessories offer worth the “risks?”

Our families, our friends, our citizens were attacked by a man with access to guns and accessories that are capable of simulating the actions and results of assault rifles. There was no “protection” that could have been offered. I might be wrong, but it seems the more of these guns and accessories there are on the streets, the more danger our families, friends and fellow citizens face.

The events that happened on Sunday night should leave every one of us devastated. They should also leave us motivated. Take a stand. Raise your voice. Contribute. Be a part of the process. Make this world a better place.