School Bells Ring In Mourning

It's been a sad week for American schools. Last week, 53 year old Duane Morrison held some females hostage at Platte Canyon High School in Colorado. Eventually he killed 16 year old Emily Keyes and himself. Friday, a 15 year old boy shot and killed his principal, John Klang, at Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin. Yesterday, a man enters an Amish one room schoolhouse and kills 5 young girls and himself. What can be done to keep our schools safe? When Pat and I were traveling through Wisconsin on Friday on our way to the Michigan - Minnesota football game, the radio was buzzing about the shootings. Do we hire armed guards? Do we ban guns? Do we have metal detectors in hallways? What's the solution? In reality how can you really prevent some of this from happening? Think of your school and how easy it would be to walk in off the street into your cafeteria and do harm. If a person is bent on vengeance and has no concern for his own life (it does seem to be a male problem), you're going to have a difficult time stopping him from creating mayhem. In a free society, it's almost impossible. What can be done is to report any suspicious activity or comments by individuals to trusted adults. It's also a call to see human hearts changed by Jesus Christ. It's often the marginalized who perpetrate school violence. It's all to common to keep our distance from the marginalized. Make contact instead, with hearts of mercy and compassion. It's time for our school bells to ring for class instead of funerals.
These are the days my friend,
Jim "Train"