Look, Listen, & Learn

A high school student once again went bananas and shot up classmates and teachers yesterday, this time at an alternative high school in Cleveland.

He shot and wounded four people before turning the gun on himself.

What a tragedy. But not a tragedy without ample warning.

According to students, the shooter had talked about shooting students and even blowing up the school. But no one seemed to take him seriously. Some worried students claim the principal was too busy to listen to their concerns.

The student allegedly had a long history of mental problems. He tormented teachers and bickered with students. He was suspended just this past Monday for fighting with a student.

He dressed in a black trench coat, dog collar, and chains. Something only the most permissive of parents would let their child go dressed to school in. But we dare not interfere with our child's self expression.

At the time of the shooting, he apparently was wearing a Marilyn Manson t-shirt and black finger nail polish.

He spent time in two juvenile detention centers, once for slapping his own mother and calling her vulgar names.

He threatened to commit suicide.

He was suspended last year for attempting to hurt a student.

He cussed out his teachers.

He recently told other students that there was no God. That Marilyn Manson was God.

Is it fair in this day and age of political correctness to accurately label this kid a "problem child"?

There were possibly more warning signs with Coon than with several of the most recent school shooters put together.

But not enough people listened apparently.

What on EARTH was this kid doing in the same classroom with any other student, alternative school or not? Would you want YOUR child working, playing, and spending the day with someone like this?

I hate to break it down to such a simplistic answer, but this is what the permissiveness of our society has reaped.

The cold, hard truth is that this kid shouldn't have been in a school of technology and entrepreneurship. The system was clearly trying to mainstream a student that never was able to live in the same world with the rest of us. He should have been committed for the long haul and given the treatment that he obviously needed.

The only bright spot in this chaos is that the only one dead right now is the killer himself. That doesn't happen often in school shooting incidents.

Next time, we might not be so lucky.

But we do need to realize there WILL be a next time. That is why it is so important that adults stop today and look in the mirror and do three things--look, listen, and learn.

And for God's sake, don't just sit there. Do something.