It's Not the Same
It's really hard for me to imagine the kind of violence that went on at the school near Pittsburgh this past week.
It speaks to the changing times for sure. I don't want to sound too old, but back in my day...
...there was a fight every once in awhile across the street from the school. Kids would gather and watch the flying fists and if a teacher heard about it first, the fight wouldn't even get started.
I never fought anyone.
Not that there weren't people out there who wouldn't have minded taking a poke at me, but I had a tough older brother and my best buddy was man-size at the age of 13.
In fact, the only violence I ever really witnessed was administered by the teachers. I was seated right in front of a kid who mouthed off to an angry old guy who liked to hand out some brutal discipline. I didn't dare turn around as the wise-guy got pummeled in his seat.
It was scary, to be sure, but I was never attacked by a teacher either. (Other than the nuns who beat me to a pulp in grammar school).
Another teacher attacked about a half dozen students one day after he learned that they didn't behave when the substitute was in his seat the day before.
But deadly-type violence?
No. Thank God. There was no fear of it.
I'm not sure we would've even fathomed that a student would bring a weapon to school. There were some strange birds to be sure. There were kids who were heavily into drugs. Other kids hated everything about school including the teachers, the homework, and the boredom. We had loners. We had heavy metal guys. There were ugly kids, fat kids, bullies and fodder for bullies.
But no one attacked like Columbine or last week.
Did they?
Every once in awhile someone who wants to defend the weapon in the scenario will say there have always been such violent attacks, but that the media glorifies them now.
I even heard from all the pro-gun guys last week as they seemed almost ecstatic that it was a knife.
Thank God that kid didn't have a gun, but that isn't the point.
It's different.
I'm not sure my parents feared that perhaps a kid could gun us down in the hallways. It probably never even crossed their minds.
We've crossed a dangerous line, I'm afraid...and we've sort of accepted it as normal.
Gun, knife, poison or strategically placed bombs, we've turned a corner.
And not even the kids are safe.
And it won't ever be the same as it was.
It speaks to the changing times for sure. I don't want to sound too old, but back in my day...
...there was a fight every once in awhile across the street from the school. Kids would gather and watch the flying fists and if a teacher heard about it first, the fight wouldn't even get started.
I never fought anyone.
Not that there weren't people out there who wouldn't have minded taking a poke at me, but I had a tough older brother and my best buddy was man-size at the age of 13.
In fact, the only violence I ever really witnessed was administered by the teachers. I was seated right in front of a kid who mouthed off to an angry old guy who liked to hand out some brutal discipline. I didn't dare turn around as the wise-guy got pummeled in his seat.
It was scary, to be sure, but I was never attacked by a teacher either. (Other than the nuns who beat me to a pulp in grammar school).
Another teacher attacked about a half dozen students one day after he learned that they didn't behave when the substitute was in his seat the day before.
But deadly-type violence?
No. Thank God. There was no fear of it.
I'm not sure we would've even fathomed that a student would bring a weapon to school. There were some strange birds to be sure. There were kids who were heavily into drugs. Other kids hated everything about school including the teachers, the homework, and the boredom. We had loners. We had heavy metal guys. There were ugly kids, fat kids, bullies and fodder for bullies.
But no one attacked like Columbine or last week.
Did they?
Every once in awhile someone who wants to defend the weapon in the scenario will say there have always been such violent attacks, but that the media glorifies them now.
I even heard from all the pro-gun guys last week as they seemed almost ecstatic that it was a knife.
Thank God that kid didn't have a gun, but that isn't the point.
It's different.
I'm not sure my parents feared that perhaps a kid could gun us down in the hallways. It probably never even crossed their minds.
We've crossed a dangerous line, I'm afraid...and we've sort of accepted it as normal.
Gun, knife, poison or strategically placed bombs, we've turned a corner.
And not even the kids are safe.
And it won't ever be the same as it was.
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