By Faviola Robles
It is so difficult to be positive in the midst of negative events. Unfortunately, within the last few years, we’ve had some of the vilest school shootings and overall heinous crimes.
These shootings have gone out of control. They include: The Virginia Tech Massacre—in 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech killed 32 people, and then killed himself. The Columbine Shooting—On April 20, 1999, seniors Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, killed 13 students at Columbine High School, and then shot themselves. The Aurora Shooting—during a midnight screening of “The Dark Night Rises,” James Holmes killed 12 people and injured many. Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting—On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, 20 children, and 6 adults. He then shot himself. Arapahoe School Shooting—On December 13, 2013, Karl Pierson fatally wounded Claire Davis sending her to the hospital, where she died 8 days later, he then shot himself. Just within the last two weeks there was a shooting at a mall in Maryland, and a young boy in Standley Lake High School set himself on fire in a suicide attempt.
All of these events make us wonder why on earth someone would do something like that? I believe it is a mixture of things that causes someone to commit this, but overall it is a huge call for help. Most of the shooters ended their lives. I’m not in any way condoning their behavior. However, the inattention from parents, the neglect from society results in resentment and frustration build up which can lead someone to commit terrible crimes.
I think one of the bad outcomes from these events is the attitude from some people. They don’t care about what can be done inside the school to prevent these things from happening too frequently in our community.
These events have caused people to go from enjoying little things to making them frightened. They are afraid to go to a mall. They are afraid to go to a movie theater. Students are afraid in school. It is displeasing that events like these are the only ones to remind most of us of how precious life is. Your life could be taken away in a heartbeat. They also make us realize that the way you treat people has an influence on them more than one can comprehend.
Yes there are laws and policies that can be done to preclude it from happening, but, at the end of the day, we’re the ones who can essentially stop it, especially in high schools. In Colorado, as a result of recent budget cuts, counselors in various schools have been given more responsibilities than they can carry, not allowing them to provide health mental services to students. This is quite frustrating because those types services do help students overcome school violence and any other situation they are going through.
To some teens it might sound ridiculous and cliché, but we truly need to stop and think about the way we act with each other. Anything you say or do to another person can trigger an emotional rut they are in. How many shootings does there have to be for us to come together and do something about it? How many more students have to die for us to get the message? Treating someone like crap because of who they are is not okay. The things we say to one another can have a tremendous amount of consequences one of them including school shootings. We should take into account the voluminous amounts of quotes that surround us in school every day and put them into action. The wall in the annex next to social studies teacher Tony Romagna’s room promotes to stop ignorance, stop suffering, stop death, start peace and to start acceptance. We need to make this happen in our community. Try talking to someone new in any of your classes or smile to the person walking down the hall, any small action can truly make a difference.
