Red Flags

“You must be the change you want to see in the world”.-Mahatma Gandhi

Feeling disturbed by the endless increase in school shootings I am reminded of that famous quote. As the world struggles to find answers to the needless violence we are seeing all too often, I believe that being the change is the answer.

Many who are deeply troubled by current events believe stricter gun control in the United States is a necessary step toward reducing gun violence. I don’t want to argue this point either way here as strong arguments have already been put forth on both sides of this question. Perhaps better mental health screening and care should be closely tied to our ability to acquire firearms. My son suggested to me this morning that the media should stop publicizing mass shootings to remove the incentive of becoming famous for killing innocent people.

When I saw the image of the T-shirt that the school shooter in Texas posted on his Facebook page before he killed 10 people and injured 13, I thought that would be an obvious red flag to his friends who saw that post.

When a kid goes so far off the rails that they arm themselves and attack innocent people, I can’t wrap my head around the idea their parents never saw dramatic changes in their child ahead of things becoming so pathological that their son would kill people.

In the spirit of “be the change”, I want to ask students who have been protesting school shootings by walking out of school to instead promote hyper vigilance in observing fellow students’ social media accounts and to immediately report suspicious content so their friends can be evaluated for at risk behavior.