School of Violence

Picture this. You're sitting in class whispering to your best friend about that weird kid who doesn't have any friends. Just yesterday you tripped him in the hall because you thought it would be funny. Suddenly the kid gets up and begins shouting random things about how he's sick of it all and how all of you are going to pay. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a handgun. He shoots off a few rounds, making everyone scramble to the floor. Before you know it your staring down the barrel of a gun, all because you had decided to humiliate him the day before...

School shooting happen every year. Some of the most notable are the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres. But more and more happen each year that go unremembered.

On March 28, 1998 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden killed five and wounded ten at their Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. That morning the boys camouflaged themselves and hid in the woods outside the school armed with two semi-automatic rifles, one bolt-action rifle, and four handguns. Andrew pulled the fire alarm inside the school before running back into the woods with Mitchell. When everyone ran outside they opened fire. The police uncovered only one possible motive: a girl in the sixth grade had broken up with Mitchell the day before.

Isn't that scary? Everyone should answer yes, and that fear is what drives so many people to blame outside sources for these crimes instead of looking to the route of the problem. In teh after math of the Columbine massacre singer Marilyn Manson was blamed for corrupted the two shooters with his music, causing them to go on a killing spree.

When asked what he would have said to Harris and Klebold had they still been around he merely replied "I wouldn't say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did." That statement sums up everything that needs to be done these days.

Adults write off a kids problems as stupid or over-exaggerated and sometimes they are, but a lot of times kids jsut want someone to listen and care. Instead adults blame media, video games, and music for their children's problems, when most of the time it's just other kids.

Now I'm not saying adults are all to blame. Kids are too. We can are downright nasty, and if you're not on the other side of the insults and bullying you may never realize the damage it causes. Kids need to back off, because one nasty comment may be their last.

Shootings like Columbine could be stopped in the future, if only someone took the time to listen to the kids who cause them. Until that happens the problem will never be solved, no matter how many laws we make or how much "evil" music we ban from the shelves. So it's up to you. If we want the violence to stop we have to take matters into our own hands before it's too late.