Thank God for Those Who Dodged Bullets Today

In light of the shooting scare at University of Texas this morning, I have a few things I need to say. I dropped a child I absolutely cherish off in front of Jester (21^st & Speedway) on Sunday and as I looked at the tower wistfully I said out loud- "Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again." Merely two days later, I am staring at her dorm on TV- the shooter’s dead body is in the library across the street.

At this point- some confusion exists as to whether there is another shooter than the one who has committed suicide. All students are under lock down and I’ve been able to text Jenny, who is safe in a professor’s office with other students.

When I was in high school, I wrote a paper called- “Punk, Rock and All That Jazz.” There was some speculation at the time (a lot of it by the Big H) punk music caused young people to become violent and disillusioned. My final word on the subject was this- no media can influence you to such an extent if you weren’t a bit off to begin with.

I still believe this. The problem is, mental illness either seems to be rampant these days among young people- or it’s just there are finally diagnoses available. I remember when my parents were young; you were either crazy or you weren’t. There wasn’t much in the way of differentiation. Now, you have ADD, ADHD, tons of personality disorders- some dangerous, some harmless- depression and anxiety. Where is it all coming from?

I have a theory. As parents seem to be consumed with their own lives- I see children being less and less engaged with their nuclear family. We are plugged in to electronics and unplugged from one another. We are more concerned with social media than being social. Our children are growing up without the connections with people- they are digesting massive doses of inappropriate media (movies, TV, video games, comic books, music, Hollywood) and it is EVERYWHERE.

Young people are being bombarded with negative messages, held to impossible learning standards, asked too much of academically, expected to look perfect and HAVE everything. It’s become the new death by consumption. The pressure is one for kids to have it all- be everything to everyone- in order to compete. This pressure coupled with disconnection in their environment leads to loneliness and stress.

If children turn to music, video games and Hollywood as the most substantial source of cultural literacy- their views will become slanted no doubt. However, in my estimation, there is a big leap from shooting people in video games to shooting people in real life. It would take someone not mentally sound to be influenced to such an extent.

HOWEVER- I do believe there is limitless damage that can be done to children witnessing intense violence. It desensitizes them to it making them able to tolerate more and more- we lose compassion in this. A child who might not be strong mentally to begin with is a time bomb.

Parents are So Very NOT Clever if they let their young children watch violent programs and movies- or to play excessively violent video games. Such exposure can "reset' the normalcy button for a young person. "Oh, if you’re pissed off at a classmate- just kill them- I see it on TV all of the time." Children develop the ability to recognize consequences, and if you have a child who has never been held accountable- consequences won’t factor into bad decision making.

I’ve mentioned this before- when I was in high school- a cheerleader from a neighboring town left the house to walk her dog before school. She was following her daily routine when she was shot in the chest by the 11-year-old neighbor boy who wanted to "see what it was like to shoot someone for real."

Now- do "normal" children think this way? No. But children who are a little off and are exposed to intense violence in media can be influenced and desensitized to such an extent it seems well within "normal" to kill or maim.

The joy they take when they "kill" their opponents on a video game could be escalated to a real-life playing field. I believe that Hollywood and media contributed to Columbine and maybe every single "Columbine" there after- and I believe parents are the first line of defense against these messages.

There is no doubt there are those children who are born bad, poorly wired, mentally ill and beyond help- but their problems will be identified early teachers and family friends even if the parents are not willing to see the problems for what they are. A Clever parent will listen. We have enough sociopaths out there.

I think I am going to run an "Indecent Proposal" series. My outlandish thoughts for righting some wrongs.

Enough out of me today.