a sad day...

Today we find ourselves in the midst of another school shooting. This brings the total to 40 since Columbine (1999). An obviously troubled young man saw no other way to cope with his problems than to bring two guns to school, shoot 5 people, and then kill himself. I may have lived a sheltered life, but you never heard much about things like this when I was a kid. We're all so damned worried about kids self esteem and feeling good about themselves that they aren't developing any coping skills whatsoever. If we're so damned worried about their self esteem, how are we missing things like this?! The kids that were interviewed all said that they knew that if something like that happened at their school, this kid would be the one to do it. If that's so, why the hell wasn't anything done?? It terrifies me to think that young people seem to view guns as the great equalizer on the battlefield of bullying, and that they have no other recourse. And sadly, often nothing is done about bullying...the kids being tormented sure as hell aren't going to say anything, for fear of more torment, and the bullies will deny everything. Good, that'll help. So lets sum up (before I get more wound up, here): Kids are getting bullied. Nothing is being done about the bullying, in many cases. Kids see violent weapons as the only equalizer. Innocent kids and others get shot/injured. Kid being bullied kills themselves. How is this going to end a cycle? (aside from the obvious)