Dreams.

How about love?

There is so much pain associated with these kinds of shootings. So much friggin' pain... Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Nieces, Nephews, Grandmothers and Grandfathers... I'd like to say "I can't believe this would happen!" but the sad truth is - I can.

I got to thinking about what would drive someone to this, and what would actually be able to stop something like this from happening in the future... but it is really not very preventable. How do you stop a child from feeling outcast? Alone? Depressed? How can we as a society make people feel better about themselves? Even sending them to counselling takes them admitting they would need help, which takes a certain degree of humble...ness.

Then it is a question of raising your children well. How do we do this? Developmental psychologists tell us it is as simple as giving your children love and security. It takes that love to provide them with a good base to be secure as they grow up in this world. It is no news to us that the world is 'not fair', and it is easy to understand how an unstable individual living in an chaotic world would be lead to something as disastrous as this.

Are all loners shooters? No, of course not and I'm not going to pretend I know their 'profile' for fear of overgeneralization. I will venture to say that I think that these shootings can be stopped with - wait for it - love. I know...I know, anyone reading this right now is moaning and groaning about how cheesy I am (and you have good reason, because I am cheesy), but love could have prevented someone from doing this. I believe that if any shooters had someone that expressed their love and care for them, that they would have better coping mechanisms and be able to deal with feelings of isolation, depression, and fears that this world amply supplies us with.

I think a question that is on a lot of peoples minds are "Who can we blame this on?". The article in the Toronto Star implies that it is the University's fault. Others may blame the parents of the child. Though it is trivial to place blame, if I were to blame someone, I would blame the society. I don't want to get into long gory details of it, but to name a few things: Pressure to conform to the "American Dream", high standards of living leading to neglect of children, the idea that money will solve everything, capitalism, media...

What lesson are we to take away from this then? That we need to toughen up security on campuses? Will that really help or be a waste of money? I think the only thing we can really do to change this is to try to be genuinely nicer people. To be less judgemental and accept people as they are.

Maybe befriending people is too far of a leap, but a simple smile and some nice words go a long way. I am guilty of being a judgemental bitch who has mean thoughts of people as I walk down the street on occasion. I'll have to think more positively and smile again. If you feel this is stupid (which it kind of is) then at least love yourself - cause I'm sure you're awesome (especially if you read this!). I'm sure everyone has people out there that love them...though sometimes it isn't always admitted...admit it to them! Talk to them...sometimes it isn't always evident in our actions...gooooooooooooooo!

I will leave with a quote from Sir James M. Barrie (who? yah, I duno, found it online.)

posted by Bradimon @ 10:39 a.m.