Politicians have had too much practice pretending assault riffles are about 2nd amendment rights. I can’t see moving them off that rouse in time to save the next batch of children who need our help now.
What we can do is Educate our Educators to help prevent troubled kids from going off the deep end and shooting up their schools. I know! We can’t afford it! We can’t afford it???
When Jack Ciaramello ,a 19 yo young man from the ROTC noticed Nikolas Cruz, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, wasn’t dressing properly for the class and was having a hard time. He sat down and talked to him to see what he needed to get back on track. Nikolas said he wanted a Snickers Bar. So he bought him one and Nikolas participated fully from that day forward.
Now, it wasn’t really about the Snickers Bar. It was about someone noticing that he was there. He was in trouble and he needed help. Instead of making him wrong he asked how he could help. A 19 yr. old young man noticed and did what none of the adults around him could do.
How great would it be to start from the beginning teaching empathy and compassion every day in every way in school. When kids see a student that’s creepy or weird they’re taught to make space for him at the table instead of tormenting him and being mean. Some schools are doing that already. Every day in every way.
We want to call Nikolas Cruz a monster to dehumanize him and feel like he’s not one of us to begin with. It’s not our fault he went off on a school full of students. We couldn’t have stopped HIM. He was just born that way, right?
But his RED FLAGS were glaring. Out of everything I’ve read so far there isn’t much about his life that tells me he WOULDN’T go in there and shoot up that school.
He was expelled from the school a year earlier for carrying dangerous weapons (knives) on campus. At the same time he was discovered to be all cut and sliced up, all over his arms. So the Dept of Child and Family Services were called in and after a “thorough” investigation they ruled that nobody was hurting him, he was “ONLY cutting himself” so they closed the case.
I could go on with the number of red flags that were incredibly obvious to the 100th degree but given that one paragraph alone I ask this question …..
Did Nikolas Cruz kill those 17 people in Florida? Or was it the structure we have in place in our schools right now? The structure in our Social Services Departments right now?
How many classes did Nikolas have each day. That’s how many teachers didn’t know how to help him and prevent this. How many people work in the front offices as administrators? That’s how many more people don’t have the training to help our kids and prevent this.
It’s too easy to call these kids “Monsters” when they finally snap and shoot up a school or movie theater or a night club. It’s true that better Gun laws would be helpful. But we can’t wait for the day when we have smart, ethical politicians.
But what if we collectively turn some light on in this darkness?
What if we ask smarter questions that all of us together can solve sooner rather than later?
What will it take to educate our educators about helping kids to emotionally thrive?
What’s the best strategy to make these plans come to fruition smoothly?
How many people in our world love our kids and would be willing to turn their attention toward solving one single piece of this equation doing something that sounds ecstatically fun?
Did you even know you were so creative that your fabulous idea could generate so much money for your local kids?
I wonder if …..
Did you ever know what a wonderful place curiosity takes in opening up the possibilities that come into play?
Like … I’m just curious … when I feel so tired after working all day, will I become more tired if I get together with friends to raise money for the community or will the connection with live humans and feeling my sense of Purpose invigorate me into being happy that I went?
I’m just curious … what would it take to provide deep comprehension of providing emotional stability for even the most challenging of teenagers?
As a community we owe it to our kids not to let them fall through the cracks. We can’t just think “teenagers are supposed to be miserable”. No! They aren’t.
I promise. These signs were obvious to the trained observer. Current conditions don’t warrant being able to slow down and do anything about it. But Social Media is a huge platform.
I know you may be tempted to tell us all the reasons THE EDUCATORS IN THE SCHOOLS CAN’T SAVE OUR KIDS. But we know that.
Let’s be a community together and find solutions for this. It takes a Village. It truly does.
Put a Q below as you think of other good questions to help us help “OUR KIDS” . And share things you think of to help bring Love, Compassion, Empathy, Peace, Light and Every other wonderful thing to the children of our world!
Many Blessings to you, Denise