I was planning
to write about the Columbine tragedy because April 20 marked the two year anniversary.
When another shooting occurred recently, however, I thought, "enough."
Once again, our nation was rocked with the second shooting in the San Diego
area in two weeks.
I was recently in Los Angeles for the kickoff of Universal Studios Hollywood's "Rock the Universe," a Christian music festival, where I had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the entire park.
Speaking with many youth pastors and young people, I heard firsthand of the fear and tension surrounding the California schools as a result of the senseless violence. How will these tragic and violent acts affect our youth? Read this quote from a counselor at Columbine:
"I have a mixture of feelings within as the anniversary is fast approaching. In anticipation of the April 20th anniversary, I have seen an escalation of emotions, stress, etc., among the students and faculty at my schools in the area. Kids are coming into my office, and they just start crying. One of my girls attempted suicide a week ago, and another girl was raped. Another girl's boyfriend was killed about a month ago in a car accident. Kids are getting into fights and arguments, and a lot of people seem on edge. People are just falling apart, and the last two weeks have been the most intense (besides the actual Columbine tragedy) of my years in education."
If we don't come up with concrete solutions and have the courage to make the necessary changes, then these teen-agers have died in vain. Everyone's first thought is that we must address the easy access that children have to guns, but that alone is not anywhere close to the answer. Consider the following quote from Newsweek magazine's April 17, 2000, edition:
"The Columbine murders run deeper than a failure of gun control or trigger locks. We are slapping Band-Aids on deep, gaping wounds when we simply look at the weapons that were used instead of the reason why the boys were motivated to kill."
Indeed, background checks would not have disqualified the purchase of 95 percent of all guns used in the last 15 shootings. Closing the loophole of background checks at gun shows would not have disqualified 18-year-old Robyn Anderson from buying a rifle and two shotguns at a Denver gun show for the two Columbine killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating said, "There is something horribly wrong when too many young people do not value human life. These tragic incidents of school violence point to a very real sickness. It is time for us to get serious about finding a cure and not simply tending to the symptoms."
Sadly - no tragically - the picture that emerged of the two Columbine shooters is remarkably similar to the description of other shooters in events before and since then. It is a description of young people disconnected from parents, peers and a personal belief system that values life and caring for others. Something happened in the lives of most of those young shooters to cause them to reject the values and beliefs that hold life to be precious, hopeful and worthwhile.
Ask anyone in our prisons, county jails and juvenile detention centers, and they can tell you the day and moment the light went out inside them, the day darkness and pain overrode all reason. I can tell you the exact moment it happened to me as a young boy. Add to this a post-modern society, which eschews any absolutes of truth, and we are left with a free-for-all, violent generation of youth.
Violence in the media and entertainment is but the beginning. There is a much-deeper cry from youth today. This must be addressed if significant meaning and change are to come out of the tragedies.
I agree with my friend, Josh McDowell, who summarized it this way: "Months of research and interaction with psychologists, theologians and physicians has brought me to believe that the reason these shooters lashed out in such a violent way is the disconnectedness in their lives. They feel alone, abandoned and alienated from society in general and from their parents specifically. Most live in homes where there are not loving, caring bonds or an intimate connection among family members, particularly fathers."
If not gun control, trigger locks and police in the schools, then what is the answer? The key is relationships in the home. A study done by Shepherd Enoch Pratt Health System, titled "the Classroom Avenger," found the following: "The shooter's family appeared to be superficially normal, but was usually very dysfunctional. Explicit or covert anger and hostility are prevailing emotions in the family, accompanied by parent-child struggles. Fathers tend to be absent or minimally involved in parenting."
I am asking you to join me in earnest prayer for the only true institutions that can address and solve these tragedies; the home, the church and the school. In considering a solution to this dilemma, the message of John the Baptist came to me: "And now the axe is laid to the root of the tree" (Matthew 3:10). It's time for the church and the home to stand up and make a difference Ð one by one, home by home, life by life.
Dr. Jay Strack is president of Student Leadership University, a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker and author who has spoken in thousands of public schools and hundreds of crusades, rallies and churches. His books include Good Kids Who Do Bad Things, Aim High and Everything Worth Knowing I Learned Growing Up in Florida.