DoubtingThomas wrote:A student reports, ""I know he's picked on by coaches and other students. He didn't really talk to anyone," he told the station. "My friends from the football team told me that coaches said he smelled, like, right in front of his face. And other kids would look at him and laugh at him ... nothing like physical but they still emotionally bullied him.""
Jersey Girl is completely right. And notice how the coaches won't spend a single day in jail.
The common thread is mental illness. Depression, anxiety and untreated mental illness--undiagnosed or diagnosed. Polarization, ostracizing, bullying, low self worth, poor self image, chronically crappy family life, abuse, etc., and the onset of mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia.
That's just off the top of my head.
Young females are more likely to attempt or complete to commit suicide via overdose.
Young males are more likely to attempt or complete suicide via hanging, carbon monoxide (their cars) or firearms.
This kid had access to his father's legally owned firearms. Without that access and the ability to turn his rage outward, he likely would have attempted suicide via the methods stated above.
Imagine that there are two piles of bodies. One is the result of mass shootings. The other is the result of teen suicide.
Which pile do you think is larger?
This society is failing to address the root causes of it's children's self-slaughter. Why?
It's too damn hard.
It's far easier for us to be shocked by a mass shooting. Bitch and moan about gun control, than it is to look at that other pile of bodies from teen suicide.
Isn't it time that we woke the hell up and paid real attention to what is happening to our children instead of having this repetitious political back and forth over gun control?
Listen, I would love to see increased measures in terms of gun control. More than that, I would like to see us as a nation take a look at why our youth are resorting to suicide and start chipping away at solutions. We're NOT doing it.
The common thread here isn't guns. In cases of mass shootings, guns are only the HOW. In all cases of teen external destructive behaviors such as mass shootings and self destruction--suicide, the WHY is typically mental illness.
The shootings are a symptom of the WHY.
The suicides are a symptom of the WHY.
Take the guns out of the scenario. Do you think our youth will stop harming themselves? Do you think the pile of bodies from suicide will decrease?
My answer to both questions is "No".
