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Terror at the Schools. The events that took place in Colorado last Tuesday were a sordid reminder of how things are shaping up today. The striking trend has been occurring for the past year and a half and is now raising some eyebrows about how secure children in school are. The questions have mushroomed after an incident where 15, including the killers, were killed. I did not expect to write two articles like this within a year of one another (May 24, 1998). What type of horrifying circumstances can lead two boys to commit crimes that involve such animosity and hatred? The plot to kill had been planned like a military operation taking into account every single detail imaginable. The two boys had marked a school map that showed when would be the best time to attack, where to hide and the way to attack. When crimes involve plans as intricate as these, we must be overlooking some common symptoms. The driving force behind these crimes must obviously be intense. Their inspirations might stem from several different causes but the result is the same. These children have not been born this way. Whatever caused them to commit these actions has been exposed to them at some point in their lives. I know what peer pressure is like and I know that it has the potential to bring out such qualities in any person. The general feeling from everyone is that these boys were driven by this reason. If this was truly the case, then were they not running on the feeling of dislike directed towards them? As in all of the previous school shootings, this plan was carried out with dangerous ease. The two boys had acquired an assortment of weapons and, looking at the case, it seems like they did not encounter any major problem acquiring them. Instantly, politicians are pushing tougher gun control plans, but will doing this accomplish any real purpose? Gun control has been the topic of debate for sometime now and this has only added to the urgency of issue. However, I think that tightening the laws alone will not the desired effect. Children that have enough hatred in them to plan an operation for a year will ultimately accomplish their mission. Tougher gun laws only scratch the surface of this problem; the answers lie a lot deeper. However, the fact remains that kids must be kept far away from guns. Why did these boys revert to such violet tactics to express their anger? It seems extremely common that schools are quickly becoming like stress relievers for troubled minds. The violence is not born inside the school walls but the places inside these walls are quickly becoming places to expel anger. Times like the 50’s, where the worst way you could express your anger was in a 10-minute fight are now dreamed for. Society has reached a point where if an angry child only gets into a backyard brawl, the parents are considered fortunate. If any society reaches this point, crimes like these will occur most often. Another area that breeds violence in the minds of kids is the mushroom like growth in electronic video games. Games with action figures touting guns and killing people transport the kids to a make-believe world where violence and bloodshed are a way of life. These games, in my mind, have zero entertainment value and have no place in a decent and civilized society. The turns that this society has taken are dangerous. With the invention of the Internet, the access to uncontrolled information has skyrocketed and must be stopped. A U.S. citizen has a right to free expression, but a line must be drawn on the issue of Internet. These boys were able to get information on pipe bombs and all other lethal, "can-be-made-at-home," weapons on the Internet. The biggest contributor to the behavior of children is their parents. Parents must be as vigilant as a hawk as to what their child is doing. They must pay close attention to the way their child reacts and how they treat others. A responsible and caring parent will know when a child is straying from the right path and when it is more that an aberration. The police say there were sawed off shotguns in plain sight in the boys rooms, yet the parents did not notice. It is now not very surprising that these boys both had the capacity and the will to commit this crime. The bottom line is that children are like seeds. The growth and what they grow into depends on how you care for them. These children can either bloom into a beautiful rose that everyone marvels at or they can wither away far before they reached their potential. Date posted: April 25, 1999. What do you think
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