Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I dread April

The month of April may seem benign enough that I wouldn’t blame you if you found it hard to believe that someone could actually dread the fourth month in the Gregorian calendar…but I do. It’s really been the culmination of many things over my life. My Mother is an accountant so April is always crunch time for her to get her clients’ taxes done. I remember how hard she would work, when I was much younger, and it always stressed the family a little because you never like to see your own Mother work that hard at anything.
Ok, so Tax Time doesn’t help, but that’s not why I dread April. I was on a brief road trip in Littleton Colorado on April 20th, 1999. If you don’t immediately recognize that date – it is the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting (Eric Harris / Dylan Klebold pictured). I was in Colorado at the time because I was able to purchase tickets to a Smashing Pumpkins concert. To save a little money, I stayed with my Aunt who lives in Littleton. That morning, I got up – got dressed, and was making my way back to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was just over 8 hours away. I was on the road the whole day and was listening to CDs. There are very few radio stations along the way so that was my source for music and entertainment. When I arrived in SLC, I went into my apartment to find my two roommates glued to the television. I gave a very casual “Hey guys, what’s up?” and they just sat there. I asked “what was going on” and they both looked at me and said they were watching the news about what had just happened in Littleton. I said, “I was just in Littleton – what happened.” I sat down in front of the TV and watched in horror as the story and images unfolded. I checked the time the massacre began, and I can just about promise you – that I drove right in front of that High School heading back home while those events were getting started. I mean…right as it was going on!
I know in the grand scheme of things, that’s a very loose “claim to fame”, but still – it’s stuck with me even until today. From that year forward, I took a keen interest in school shootings. It definitely wasn’t the first we’ve ever had in this country, but it did grasp my attention. After a few years, I started to notice a pattern. It’s right around April and May that you see the shootings begin to happen. Maybe it’s because the school year is almost over and the “bullied” students just can’t seem to wait another 4 or 5 weeks for the school year to end, which in turn would spare them from their oppressive situation. So they act out – and of course, make horrible, life altering decisions that only make the situation much, much worse.
Table of School Shootings (April and May only) over the last 10 years

Name Location Date Year Death Toll
May 1
1992
4
April 24
1998
1
May 20
1998
2
April 20
1999
15
May 20
1999
0
May 26
2000
1
April 14
2003
1
April 24
2003
2
May 9
2003
1
April 4
2004
2
April 2
2007
2
April 16
2007
33
April 10
2009
2
May 1
2009
1
May 18
2009
1
May 18
2009
1
In the last 10 years, we've had 154 deaths (not injuries, just death toll) occur at the hand of a gun on a school campus (both K-12 and college). Out of those 154 deaths, 69 happened in April and May. That's almost half! So, here we are at the precipice of "open season" and I just can't help but dread what the next 30 to 60 days will bring. As the father of 3 boys myself, I take a personal affront to anyone who would seek to take the life of a child...even if that person is a child him/herself.
The worst part of all this is that there's almost nothing you can do about it. I can't keep my kids home from school for the next two months. I can't even "train" them on how to deal with these types of situations - they're too young, and they wouldn't understand. Any attempt to prepare them would do little more than scare the crap out of them. And so the waiting game begins. Now, to be honest - I have very little fear that an event like this will happen to my children. I mean, they're a thousand times more likely to be involved in a serious car accident in transit to or from school. I realize that...but again, it's not just my kids - it's all kids. I don't want to see any parent have to go through that.
One thing is for certain, though. When the next school shooting does take place - you'll see parents, teachers, and local citizens stand in amazement in that they can't believe this happened in their quiet town. There will be news organizations and people mugging the camera saying how we need stricter gun control laws. And the cycle of idiocy will continue. How is it that nobody else has heard of root-cause analysis? Why does every politician or pundit seek to apply the worthless band-aid solution to everything?
The only thing that I can do at this point is pray for peace. I pray that nobody has to lose a son or a daughter attending school this year. Or any other year for that matter.

No comments:

Post a Comment