There was another school shooting in the news this week. This time the community of Chardon, Ohio is in shock over the senseless killing of three students. The sad reality is its a sign of the times. Still, I think there are some things we can be doing to lessen the likelihood of our children becoming the victims.
It begins with the way that we treat other people. All people, even those the world labels as "weird" or different, deserve to be treated with love and respect. A friendly smile and a warm hello, over time can soften even the hardest of hearts. That is the message we need to convey to our teenagers, but the best way to teach it is to live it.
Secondly, those of us who work with teenagers need to be on the alert for kids who are drifting toward the fringe. I have yet to hear of an instance where the shooter was the star athlete or the homecoming queen. They are almost always kids who have become unattached. Sometimes they have been bullied, other times just socially excluded. Those are the kids who need to be on our radar. We need to help such students to become connected. We need to let them know that we care about them.
Outlawing guns and installing metal detectors in every school is not the solution. The end of such school violence will only happen when we learn to treat each other in a more Christ-like manner.
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