With all of the violence in the world these days, it is hard to feel safe anywhere. It was always believed that schools were safe for our children, but we now know that is not true. Now we must wonder how safe it really is to even go to our local mall to shop, without the prospect of someone opening fire on us. But, a church is one place that many people feel they can always go to find peace and sanctuary; until now, that is. No place is immune to the violence in the world and now, that includes churches.
In Colorado yesterday, a gunman open fired on two separate church facilities, leaving a total of five people dead. The first shooting occurred at 12:30 A.M, when a 20-year-old white male entered the building and asked to spend the night at the Youth With A Mission missionary center in Colorado Springs. When he was refused, he open fired killing two people ages 26 and 24. Just 12 hours later, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a gunman entered the church’s main foyer and open fired, killing another two people before a security guard, who worked for the church, killed him. Authorities, are trying to determine whether or not the two shootings are connected. In the wake of the deadly Omaha mall shootings, certainly no one expected this.
The Gorilla can’t help but wonder what is going on with our youth today? It is not as though these kinds of crimes are committed exclusively by young people, but certainly it is more prevalent among them. The irony in this case is that the gunman went to a youth oriented center, where perhaps he thought he could get help from his peers, and was refused. Could this tragedy have been avoided, or was this man looking for a reason to take lives due to his own very real pain? Psychologists have linked the behaviors of the gunman in several school shootings including the infamous Columbine High School shootings, as well as the recent Virginia Tech shootings, and now the Omaha Mall shootings. They concluded that the gunmen all had several things in common; each felt as if they were ”outcasts” of society and claimed that they were ridiculed by their peers, and each one made statements to others that they felt ”rejected” when they reached out for help. How then, can we do reach out to these members of society? How can we prevent these very real tragedies from occurring and save lives?
The Gorilla feels that this is an important issue that needs our attention. What if the schools were to incorporate youth programs, which encourage kids to gather together and simply talk about their insecurities and fear of rejection. Perhaps a program, which gathers together, those who would otherwise feel excluded to give them a forum in which they could voice their anger or frustration to other kids about how they feel excluded, and include a program that teaches those kids how to reach out to other who are “different” from them? Well, it’s just an idea, but certainly something must be done to help these types of kids. The Gorilla feels strongly that the government should allow for funding for these types of programs in our schools - after all- human life is at stake!
December 12th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Children are growing up on television, and what is on television—and in movies, for that matter? VIOLENCE. Is it possible that all the violence kids see on TV influences them? 99 times out of 100 when an argument between two men, or even women, sometimes, occurs, at some point “the flash point” is reached and someone gets a fist in the face, or a club on the head or a gun shot to the head or body. That’s the way to solve arguments, according to TV and movies. But will anyone step in and limit or end gratuitous violence in those media. Nope. Andy Warhol said decades ago, “It’s the movies(and TV)that have been controlling this country ever since they were invented. They tell you what to do, how to do it, who to do it with, how to look when you’re doing it, and even how to feel about it when you’re doing it.” Warhol was right! TV and Movies are prime movers when it comes to causing real-life violence.