The Children Left Behind

Have we already forgotten and moved on?

Have the names already faded?

The rhetoric has died down, the sadness, the rage, the call for change...disappearing in the midst of the holidays.

America no longer seems to be interested in changing things, instead, resigned to the status quo.

As though school shootings are just a tolerable inevitability, and the deaths, though tragic, cannot be prevented.

I want to bring this topic back up. Not to stir emotions, not to say I'm right and someone else is wrong, but to keep the attention on a serious problem I believe should be addressed by us as a society.

School shootings are not new. There have been literally hundreds of shootings in America since the 1700's. It is not a phenomenon unique to America, as other countries also experience similar tragedies (though on a far, far less frequent rate.)

Yet in the 1980's and 1990's there was a sharp increase in gun crime involving schools as well as an increase in youth suicide involving guns.

The mental stability of children seems to have decreased, with more children being diagnosed with an array of conditions ranging from Bi-Polar Disorder, Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Depression.

Perhaps these conditions have always been around and due to the limitations of science and technology went undiagnosed. Perhaps as medicine and pharmaceutical companies have pushed for more money, they have a vested interest in keeping people on their drugs. Perhaps there is an increase in poor parenting, or that the video games have gotten too realistic and the human mind cannot distinguish reality from fantasy at a young age and the results have been catastrophic. Maybe it's the media, unintentionally glorifying the killers and murderers of past tragedies.

Perhaps it's the weapon peddlers, the ones who have a vested interest in every age group in some way liking guns. The gun business is an incredible one, and one that the United States is very, VERY good at. The amount of money spent on arms in the United States dwarfs every other country. We have exported the most weapons of any country over the past decade. At the same time we have IMPORTED the 4th most, essentially making the United States THE trading ground for weaponry.

What that essentially means, is that at any given time acquiring a gun is easier in the United States than in anywhere else in the world due to the sheer number of guns in the country.

As we look back, I find it difficult to blame the media, the video games, or anything of that nature. Gangsters and hoodlums and generally bad people have been glamorized for years. Millions of kids watch violent movies, play violent video games, watch the news, yet they do not go on murderous rampages.

 

I find it hard to blame the access to guns, for while we are more prone to gun violence in general due to sheer number, this specific tragedy (school shootings) has spiked seemingly independent of any gun law, spike in trade or otherwise gun related variable. Also, violent crime overall has actually dropped. School shootings have remained immune though and have appeared to either increase or at least remained at a steady rate.

I do wonder about the mental health angle though. I wonder because it's the one subject that is possibly the most difficult to answer. With all the advances in medicine, why do we appear to be increasingly diagnosed with more and more mental disorders? Are our brains actually less healthy than the generations before us? And if so why?

I don't doubt the validity that there are people with mental health problems. I, myself was diagnosed at an early age with depression. At times, the symptoms have seemed unbearable, from feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, to a lack of appetite and desire for things I once enjoyed all the time.

To date, I now find myself in a good and happy life. I am generally optimistic about the future, and feel lucky and blessed to have lived the life I've gotten to live so far. I do have regrets and haunts that I feel are probably exacerbated by my condition but I've learned to accept that I cannot change those things and while it sucks to have those crummy memories, I've made far more good ones than bad ones.

I feel a solid base of self-esteem growing from a sense of my past accomplishments combined with the validation of love from friends and family. (i.e., laughing together, high fives, hugs, a kiss from my girlfriend etc.)

I am lucky. I know it. and I believe I have overcome my depression.

But I also believe I almost didn't.

There was a point where I felt all alone. That I felt like it wasn't worth it anymore. That time happened to be when I was living at home. Today, I am wondering aloud, "Would I be alive if my parents had a gun in the house and I knew where it was?"

It's a question I can only pose for a minute before my own stomach turns. I don't know what the answer is, but I do have a good guess. And I hate my own answer. What if my symptoms were worse?

But herein lies what possibly saved my life. My parents NOT owning a gun. Perhaps it was unintended yes, but I wonder if it is not unreasonable for the care taker of a child with severe enough symptoms of various mental disorders be disallowed from possessing a gun? Should those diagnosed with Depression, Bi-Polar Disorder, Autism and other states of discontent of the mind EVER be able to own guns?  And if so who determines this?

What this would be asking for, in this scenario, is a clear amendment to the right to bear arms. That due to the greater concern over our society’s well-being, the government would enforce this as law. Presumably this would help ease fear of guns being accessed by unstable individuals capable of doing harm on a large scale.

The problem with this is, I don't know how successful this law would actually be. It doesn't solve those that have access to guns now, and the process would be incredibly cumbersome in its implementation.

It also doesn't mean that the law would decrease overall violence, as it remains plausible that gun violence and suicides are replaced with other methods.

This may also risk that those kids who ARE diagnosed might have their private health concerns made public without consent.

While it's true I support and can identify to some extent with anyone dealing with mental health issues themselves, as well as the families and friends of such people, I still do not believe it is the Government's job to regulate this problem. That, instead, it falls on us as private citizens to instill positive values and morals to our children, and responsible gun ownership by those who desire to own them.

As I'm thankful for my own set of circumstances that have eventually led to my current state of life (which is very good in my own estimation). I am acutely aware that mental health concerns in this world are real and that they too need to be addressed.

It appears that the preferred method of treatment has changed, that rather than engage patients to address their problems, they are instead prescribed pills, their mood then monitored, and then prescriptions adjusted accordingly.

Perhaps the effectiveness of this type of treatment should be monitored, and thought should be given to more personal and non-pharmaceutical alternatives. These are questions that need to be investigated and reviewed.

Finally there is the issue of security at schools. By and large schools are already underfunded in this country. Many of the teachers that I've contacted complain that there is not enough money for simple things such as supplies or books, much less for increased security. One proposal was simple enough, to train teachers as to what to do if there was a shooter and perhaps drilling students on what to do as well. That being prepared by security professionals, while not a solution to the underlying causes, may at least give short term help to reducing casualties if a shooting event were to occur.

Some presented the idea of arming teachers or having guns in the school, yet I feel that this only would present more opportunities for a maladjusted person to gain access to a weapon and would increase violence rather than decrease it.

My personal preference at this stage? An increase in overall school funding, with an emphasis for counseling for those who exhibit anti-social tendencies. The cuts I would make to pay for the additional funding would be to our military budget (easily the most bloated expenditure of our tax dollars).

If we are going to be serious about ending the horrific events such as Newtown, then we need an ongoing dialogue and then resulting action. We cannot continue to pay lip service to how we want safer schools and a better society and just hope and pray that it happens.

If we are going to be a truly good society, one that is befitting of a world super power, then it is time to start caring about these issues for more than a week or two.  

We can do better than this.