Of course out was going to happen again….it seems like it is becoming our norm and that scares me. It should scare you too! What I am referring to is the latest massacre at the High School in Florida. At what point are we going to find the answers to the questions of why and can we prevent this from ever happening again?
My degree is in Psychology and what I am most struck by is there is a sense that everyone knew that this particular child was in trouble. He had recently lost both parents, had been posting himself posing with guns and had a school history of trouble leading to expulsion for harassment of other students. Why was there not a social worker transitioning him, monitoring him and let’s not leave out someone that cared? As humans we need to be connected and feel loved. Despite even the most anti-social individual, everyone needs people. All too often children are tricked into thinking that social media is how they communicate. There is nothing that can replace one on one interaction. Today our youth communicate more on their cell phones than they do face to face which is not communicating at all. This eventually makes them feel lonely because they are not having real relationships. When someone is isolated and alone bad things happen.
Once a person feels completely alone they commit suicide, or as of late lash out at those that they have perceived to have hurt them. Killing no longer becomes something taboo in society but an actual forgone conclusion. This simply has to stop. We can get up in each others faces over our political views or beliefs in and about others that are different from what we know. Why not we get a little more riled up about children that slip through our system and turn into killers that we then get to support for life while the families of the innocent are forever changed? It does not make sense that there is not more attention to mental illness, loneliness and markers that are displayed through social posts as cries of help or as warnings. We have to do better. We are civilized or we would like to think we are but I’ll tell you if I can not send my child to school without worrying that he will be murdered then civilized we are not!
The best way to make sure that this does not happen again is to go back to a community based society where everyone knows everyone and is watching out for each other. When the first signs of a weird post pop up, let there be a conversation. Are you ok? Let me take you out for lunch and let’s talk. So often we “know” something isn’t right but we don’t step up and mentor and guide. Our children need guidance. They need to be monitored so that we can find out before it’s too late that they need help. When everyone comes together and makes the commitment to not let anyone be left behind and as the DA said of this latest horror “broken” then we will see that change can happen and we all can live and care for one another making it very difficult for this to ever happen again.
