**AXO Alum shaking her head**

IMO I think its ALWAYS a tragedy and never "NORMAL" -- Personally, I don't care if a person is blue, green, yellow, purple, red, or rainbow colored like the slushies I used to buy off the ice cream truck....its a person and NO ONE deserves to be a victim of senseless violence! Maybe if we ALL started treating each other like PEOPLE and not like crayons in the crayola box, then we will realize that the only thing that truly matters is that a life was lost and finding out what we can do to prevent it in the future!

On another note...did anyone see the Primetime special last night about kids and guns? They gave the kids a class about gun safety and what to do if they found a gun, etc. Then a couple weeks later, they planted disabled guns and dummy bullets around 2 kids hangouts with hidden cameras --- NOT ONE SINGLE KID turned the guns in when they found them....well one did -- but he turned in only ONE gun and kept the other. It was sickening to see these kids playing with these guns -- they had NO IDEA that they were disabled! Very scary to think about!

On a final note, I heard the news reports after the school shooting, and the principal saying "Our prayers are with you all" (paraphrased) and that the children were sent around the corner to a church for counseling. Its very funny for me to see that God is only "allowed" in school AFTER a tragedy has happened.

AXO Alum- Asia2000 is not saying that SHE feels like that. She is saying that is how the media portrays it. When a kid gets shot in school the media only refers to it as a tragedy when it is in Suburbia. It's only BIG news when it's in Suburbia. When it happens in East Compton, it's in the third slot on the local 11 o'clock news.

Now that might be a harsh portrayal of the media, but unfortunately that's the way it is.

ZetaAce

This is a whole other issue. Not every one is Christian.

You are right. It is hypcritical to not allow prayer in schools at all but then rely upon it in times of tragedy.

If you want to open a thread about whether or not prayer should be allowed in public schools, it would be interesting to discuss.

Leslie

[This message has been edited by gphi2k (edited March 09, 2001).]

Sorry to be ignorant, but what is a "parochial" school? Please tell me, I honestly don't know. Thanks!

My whole point is that every one makes a big freaking deal about NO RELIGION in school (obviously separation of church and state)...yet AFTER a tragedy, everyone is saying "prayers" and going to church for counseling. I was just saying that its funny (ie, funny weird not funny haha) to me that it is apparently "OK" for them to have prayer AFTER the fact but not any other time. I was just making a general comment about how its a situational thing.

ZetaAce and Asia -- I am not saying any one person said this, that, or the other. My point was only to state that I would never consider a killing of this nature normal and it is a tragedy regardless of where it happens. I grieve a dead child no less if he/she is white, black, yellow, green, or blue. That's all I was trying to say.

The media -- **AXO Alum STILL shaking her head** and to think that we all actually "rely" on them to report the "news"! Ugghhh!

[This message has been edited by AXO Alum (edited March 09, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by AXO Alum (edited March 13, 2001).]

First of all, I'm sorry if what I said came out harsher than I meant it to. I am assuming it did because of the tone of your post. I apologize.

saying prayers and sending the students to Church for councelling is what made me say that not everyone is Christian. I am aware that other religions believe in God. I took your statement about chuch councelling and prayer as being in the same breath, but I am guessing now that you didn't mean it the way I interpreted it.

Anyhow, sorry if I offended you.

Leslie

[This message has been edited by gphi2k (edited March 12, 2001).]

Leslie - I'm sending you an email. Thanks!

Its a private school, religious based. ie: Catholic Schools. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

I think the way to get this stopped is doing several different things. First, they need to teach kids to step up and stop others from picking on other kids. THey need to be taught that it is important not only because it is right, but it might save their own lives, if they keep someone from feeling that no one cares.

Another thing is that mental health care and information has got to be more accessable in this country. If anyone wants to say they have never been depressed they are lying. It is a human condition that anyone with real emotions will have at one time or the other. But, people often ignore friends and family members who need it, because they are not informed as to how to help them, or they are embarrassed or don't want to get "involved". This is a societial problem and we all have to solve it, every day we live. We have to do it to protect ourselves and others we care about. Sorry that I got so "preachy" but I had to turn in a friend in high school who named five members of our senior class that she would kill if she could. She needed help. It took a long time before she forgave me for doing it, but I think I probably saved her from a lot worse situation than she could have had. And, mabe I saved someone's life.

I totally agree, pledgetrainer. The stigma surrounding mental health is so strong that people are afraid to admit they're having a hard time dealing with their emtions. Maybe this kind of thing wouldn't be so common if everyone had a 3rd party to vent to. Hearing un unbiased opinion from someone older can make so much difference. Even a trusted teacher or family friend can help prevent problems.
I think schools should have little workshops about mental health, stress, warning signs & dealing with conflict. We all learn how to keep our lungs working in health class, but how many kids learn about keeping mentally healthy? I don't think it'll fix the problem, but it couldn't really hurt.
Heidi

Reading (and thinking) about this topic brought to mind a quote I once read...
I looked it back up and I think it fits:

"Midway upon the journey of, this, our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straighforward path had been lost.

I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way."

-Dante's Inferno
Canto I : Lines 1-3, 10-12

It saddens me to think that I cannot bring a child into a safe world. It saddens me that children are not free from hate. It saddens me that humanity, through all of its advances, has not spiritually evolved.... http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif


------------------
Faced with the Divine, I was asked; "What one gift do you seek?"
I answered ever so meekly; "I seek Honor, Truth, Integrity, and Wisdom, yet those are four. How am I to choose?"
The answer came as a pounding whisper; "The four you seek are but one. I grant thee Compassion; for without it the four make none."
Author - me