Today just outside of Cleveland there was a shooting at a high school and as authorities gather information and possible motives one question jumps at me, do we expect shootings to only happen in poor Urban communities? The general answer is yes but in a subconscious way and sometimes a very conscious way.
The media interviewed a father of one of the students and he said “This is not something you would expect at this locale” and you really have to ask yourself, what locale should we be expect shootings to happen? I will say that I do not believe the father was being racist or anything like that he, I would assume, is making a general statement of an area he lives in. The other side of that is what our society has placed in our minds as expectations. I don’t expect to ever get shot anywhere in the world but can it happen? Will it happen? It might and it might not but if I were to get shot at the Vatican I would be just as surprised as if I were to be shot at home. What we shouldn’t ever expect is for anyone to get shot outside of a war or some kind of military battle. I say that because if we expect people to get shot we’re opening that door of possibilities that should remain closed.
When I speak on gang violence there’s always a couple of people that get brave to ask the silliest questions like “have you ever shot anyone?” I think to myself that I should one day say “yes and they haven’t figured out it was me yet!” to see their reaction. When I say “no I have never shot nor killed anyone” there’s either a disbelief look or a disappointed look on their faces and they walk away. What would make someone think that someone would admit to a crime like that? Are they expecting me to be a killer? Why would they think that? Just because I’m willing to admit that I have had my hands out on the street at some point in my life shouldn’t translate to “killer!” Who is the twisted one in all of this? I hope the answer is obvious to you.
Back to the school shooting today, one of the students interviewed said that they had recognized the shooter and said that the shooter was an outcast and was bullied at school but authorities have not confirmed anything so far. What is it in our society that makes our people want to bully each other? I had written before about how bullying is based on a feeling of hate so not until we address the full issue bullying will keep going. What could have been done by the adults in that school to prevent a student from being bullied? I know that schools now have anti-bully campaigns but when we look back at “say no to drugs” and “D.A.R.E” type of programs we have to think if “Stop bullying now” is going down the same road. If you look at the website for the anti-bullying it’s a bit cheesy and is obvious that a bunch of disconnected “social workers” and such put it together. One link reads “Bully-proofing your child” doesn’t hat almost sound like bullet proofing? It might not to you but for someone that has worked in violence prevention for many years one learns to be careful about verbiage. One of the basic lessons in violence prevention work is to be careful to not come up with a slogan that sounds too close to a “gang” name or an act of violence. Why would you name your youth group at church G.A.N.G? Oh I’m not making it up it’s actually out there it’s an acronym but it’s not the wisest one to use with a group of youth you are trying to get out of gangs.
It is that disconnection we have with our youth that keeps a cycle of violence in constant rotation because something that we think would work is most likely to create the least impact once it’s all over and done with. How do we deal with this issue? Do we allow youth to not only have voice but VOTE as well? I know…I know that means we would have to amend the United States Constitution…so why don’t we? If it meant that by allowing our youth to Vote that ONE life could be changed and saved then it is worth the amendment. Here’s the BUT, would we require our youth to understand not only the local and national issues but the global issues as well? If anyone on here can give a 30 minute talk off the top of their heads on how Russia and China would benefit from sanctions on Iran then you’re on top of things. The reality is that not everyone has a full grasp on ALL the political issues so it would be unfair to say that a youth wouldn’t understand enough to Vote.
Shootings should NOT be happening anywhere in this country but the reality is it will continue until we decide that Peace is OUR expectation.
I expect to live in Peace because I want to live in Peace and I will work on creating Peace for others so they can live in Peace as well.
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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