Dear Kids in America Today...Redux

As my good pal Shultzy pointed out recently, I don't get as many hits here on Blogspot as I did on Xanga.

I'd still like to believe I reach some people.

Just in case, this next post will be seen on both my Xanga and Blogspot because I think it needs to be said again, in light of the recent shootings in Montreal, and another Columbine-like plot uncovered in Green Bay, WI.

If there are any kids reading out there, please pay attention to this post. I cannot stand reading about these situations and wondering when someone's going to get smart and succeed like the Columbine shooters did. I worry more because my father, mother, brother, sister-in-law, and soon, my sister...are all teachers.

I think the saddest part about this post is that it wasn't that long ago that I wrote it because of a similar story.



Dear kids in America today,

For the love of God, stop picking on each other in school.

Look, I'm not saying this just because I was sometimes the picked-on kid in grade school. I'm saying this because this day in age, you might just get killed for doing it.

Don't believe me? Check this link.

Yes, these kids were caught because they were dumb enough to put their plans on MySpace

Yes, their putting it on MySpace was, in all likelihood, an obvious cry for help.

Yes, they probably have severe emotional issues (partly the result of bullying, no doubt).

None of these things really make any difference. Remember Columbine? No, you kids probably don't because you were too young to know or care at the time. Well, I believe today is the 7th anniversary of the massacre there. To fill you in, what happened was, two kids came into the school loaded with guns and bombs, and they killed a bunch of people. No one could stop them. The authorities couldn't come in time.

People made fun of these kids. People shoved them around in the halls. They responded with guns. Big, murderous guns. They started shooting almost everyone, and if they hadn't killed themselves, who knows when they would have stopped.

To fill you kids in some more, I can tell you that the media made a much bigger deal about violence in schools after the Columbine tragedy. They reported almost any incident where a kid brought a gun to school and threatened to kill someone.

The strange thing is, after Columbine, the reported incidents where kids brought guns into school threatening to kill people seemed to grow. It seemed like the only thing that bullied and taunted kids learned from Columbine was, "Hey, my parent has a gun in the front closet...I could that!"

The reports had younger kids every time too. A sad example is in the movie "Bowling for Columbine," Watch the movie, even if you hate Michael Moore. You'll see that, in Flint, Michigan, there was an incident where a 1st grader was shot in school by a classmate. 1st grade!!!!!!! And the little girl/victim DIDN'T pick on the shooting kid!

Today, apparently, the threats have moved to the internet. Fortunately, people read some of these websites where these threats are located, and action is taken on a much quicker scale. Still, I have a feeling that one smart kid or group of kids is going to come along, pass messages to each other on the internet, carry through with a plan, and that will be the end of it.

And then everyone will remember Columbine and forget its lessons all over again.

Please, tell me, kids of America today, why, in light of all this, you would taunt and tease one of your classmates today? Why would you take such a risk? How do you know that the kid you taunt and tease doesn't have a gun at home, and that all he needs is to find the cartridge and a way to bring it to school? How do you know that he isn't ready to snap inside and that he wants you to be his first victim?

And hey, whoever you are, if you've got problems at home, talk to someone outside your home. If you're having trouble in school, talk to your teacher. Do something, do ANYTHING to make yourselves feel more confident, just DON'T PICK ON OTHER KIDS!

You just might save your life.