A Narrative Of A School Shooting

     A Narrative of A School Shooting      

     

     The sounds of gunshots pierce the ears of a chemistry teacher in Middle America.  Another depressed youth has gone postal.  911 is called, and minutes later parents, paramedics, police, and news reporters flood the high school parking lot.  News cameras show students in tears, fleeing the building and running into the arms of terrified loved ones.  A body is covered by a sheet and wheeled out on a stretcher.  This was the teen who killed several classmates before tragically taking his own life.

     In the weeks that follow, news stations will cover the story immensely.  They will cling to any new bit of information, be it rumor or fact.  Anything will suffice the public’s dire hunger for new information related to the horrible incident.  Victims’ families can be seen on Good Morning America sharing their undeserved grief with the rest of the nation.  Others will wish to be left alone, and will hold private funerals with news vans just outside the restricted area.  This truly wasn’t the reception they wished their loved ones would have.  These parents never wanted to see their children die.  The grief they feel will take its toll for the rest of their lives.

     Now the debates are beginning.  Necessary debates about the awareness of mental health in late adolescence can be seen on MSNBC.  Meanwhile on CNN those with heavy beliefs in gun control can be seen pushing their agenda, and gaining new supporters, all thanks to the recent tragedy.  Now the NRA holds a press conference in defense of their own agenda that is currently being threatened by the liberals.  Arguments spark at the dinner table about whether or not tighter gun laws should come into effect.  New regulations are passed in schools to prevent this tragedy from happening again.  Of course, the real reason may very well be that they don’t wish to lose their extra funding from their levies.

     A month has passed and everything, besides the hearts of the families of the victims, has returned to normal.  The students that bullied the killer into committing these horrible acts go on with their lives.  Some settle down with their spouse and raise families of their own.  We can only hope that the future of these kids is brighter than that of the troubled young man who murdered his classmates in the same hallways where this next generation will go to high school.  Hopefully mental health awareness for teenagers will have increased by that time and child psychologists can save lives by helping new would-be school shooters through their depression and other issues.  Here’s to a brighter tomorrow.