Connecticut Shooting

The recent tragedy in Connecticut and other previous school shootings highlight the shortcomings of the mental health system in treating adolescents and young adults.  First people will blame the guns, then demonize shooter and his family. Undoubtedly, the shooter will be revealed as having a serious mental illness.  And undoubtedly, there will be revealed a number of tipping points that could have stopped this from happening going all the way back to his early childhood.  This was a human being at some point in his life who had a mother who cared for him, was intelligent, and had his own dreams and aspirations.  Somewhere these dreams were crushed and this is the terrifying result.  Some small acts of kindness formed together over time might have stemmed the tide of rage and anger that overtook him in these horrific acts.

What I am telling my children is to always remember that even the quietest, strangest kid in your class needs a friend.  Even the meanest bully has a heart somewhere.  I am telling my kids to never forget to say I love you to those you are the closest.  Don't pass up the opportunity to do something nice for another person.  Despite the media attention to this horrible tragedy, we live in the safest times that have ever existed.  It is because of our collective small acts of kindness and fostering empathy even to the least of these, that there is much more good in the world than evil.  As a community, we have to help those we know are at risk of these types of acts.  Working together we can help more.