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admin August 7th, 2007

When I express my opinion, I realize that I often take firm standing in the alternative views. Sometimes this makes my friends mad but if that is what I strongly feels, how could I change my view just for the sake of being the same as others? I mean, I am willing to change if people gives me good strong argument. But weak ones? You won’t accept weak arguments too, don’t you?

As we see nowadays, the moral values of the people all over the world is deteriorating at a fast pace. However, for this topic, I am focusing on the deteriorating moral values in the America, especially on the rising numbers of gunning events in the schools of USA, made by the students themselves. Most of the information I state here is taken from Wikipedia. Please click on the links to read more about each event.

April 16,2007 - Virginia Tech Massacre

Cho:

The highest record in the history of America, Cho has gunned down 32 students and faculty members in Virginia Tech while another 25 were wounded. From the videos, he said that many people have been teasing him since he was small. In his note, he mentioned about “rich kids”, “debauchery”, and “deceitful charlatans”.

April 20, 1999 - Columbine High School Massacre

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold have killed 12 students and a teacher while wounding 24 others. Exact cause of their behavior is unknown since both of them committed suicide after the shooting. There are some arguments presented but questionable which could be found using the link above.

Eric and Dylan:

There are also several other campus and school shootings that have been compiled following the timeline here. The events include shootings in other countries instead of just US.

What make me sick after reading the news and participating in discussions is that, people often tend to blame 100% on the shooter. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say that the shooters are right. They ARE wrong and deserve to be punished. However, I really disagree when people keep blaming the shooter instead of focusing to find the cause and whether the shootings could have been prevented.

In May, 2002, the Secret Service published a report that examined 37 U.S. school shootings. They had the following findings:

* Incidents of targeted violence at school rarely were sudden, impulsive acts.
* Prior to most incidents, other people knew about the attacker’s idea and/or plan to attack.
* Most attackers did not threaten their targets directly prior to advancing the attack.
* There is no accurate or useful “profile” of students who engaged in targeted school violence.
* Most attackers engaged in some behavior prior to the incident that caused others concern or indicated a need for help.
* Most attackers had difficulty coping with significant losses or personal failures. Moreover, many had considered or attempted suicide.
* Many attackers felt bullied, persecuted or injured by others prior to the attack.
* Most attackers had access to and had used weapons prior to the attack.
* In many cases, other students were involved in some capacity.
* Despite prompt law enforcement responses, most shooting incidents were stopped by means other than law enforcement intervention.

I’ve found out that one of the main reasons of the shootings is that the shooter felt alone, degraded, being laughed at and being bullied by other students. They also felt helpless and nobody listens to what they want to say. All these claims plus the availability of guns in the US easily leads to the massacres. From this, I have concluded that everyone has been responsible for the shooters’ act. They should blame themselves too and work hard to avoid one in the future.

Why do I say deteriorating moral values? From the pictures above, we could see that these people are just ordinary people like us, prone to feel vulnerable, stressed and sometimes, out-of-control. If in the first place the friends and people around him be friendly and kind towards him, I believe that the person would not have felt alone and being left out. If the school administrators and teachers have worked harder to prevent bullies in schools, many of the massacres could have been avoided. If everyone has paid more attention to people around them, giving a helping hand or just an ear, all these would have been avoided.

But, no. When other people branded someone as an “outcast”, everyone avoided him without even try to be friends with him. When somebody is making a joke out of someone, the rest laughed at the person instead of defending him. I’ve seen this happen all the time. However when the massacres happen, only the shooters are punished and blamed, putting on more and more pressure upon him.

Why don’t people just put a huge “Full Stop” at the blaming and work out a plan so that these dreadful events won’t happen again. Educators and parents should teach the children the meaning of respect and how important it is in our daily life. Every single student should be given the same chance and opportunity to compete for something. They should stop favoring those who have already had the chance by giving the chance to others to shine their inner strength and unsurfaced talents. School authorities should stop bullies no matter how small it seems because it might be small to the adults but huge for the youngsters. And the government should make the biggest step of all, by banning the use of guns and make it harder to purchase them. This might cripple the gun industry since they will lose a huge number of buyers. However, this is necessary to protect the citizens.

As a conclusion, what goes around, comes around. Remember that a little kindness today might have helped to stop a school massacre in the future while a little ignorance and bullying might become the fire that starts the fuse of a murderer.

I would love to know your opinions and views on this matter. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

P/S: I really hope this won’t happen in Malaysia!

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