The one thing God said in creation that was not good was when man was alone.  Looking at the life of this shooter it becomes obvious this kid was alone.  Being in a room full of people who tell you you’re weird, different, or make fun of your clothes still leaves you alone.  When you feel your pain is apparent to everyone around you and yet nobody seems to care, it leaves you alone.  Not only did this kid’s parents validate those feelings, but it seems everyone in his life validated feelings of “I’m not enough for anybody to care”.

When we hear someone say “home”, we picture our own home, thinking theirs is like ours. This leads us to believe that anyone different than us has the same options we do but choose to be “weird”, which causes us to avoid them because they are different. 

Having the “privilege” of being confined with criminals for nearly four years, I had no choice but to interact and get to know people of different races and religions, and their crimes.  The one common thread amongst violent offenders was a lack of love.

So, I believe the answer to the question “what can we do to prevent things like this from happening?” begins with parents at home.  Not only the parents of the shooter but in the homes of the popular kids, the talented kids, the wealthy kids, and the homes with love as well.

Would things have been different if this child had just one person he thought cared for or valued his existence?  Had he ever felt loved a day in his life, would he have had so much hate to take another life? If he had a friend or someone to eat lunch with, would he have still done this heinous act? We’ll never know.  However, I can tell you from my personal interaction with men who have committed heinous acts such as this the answer is “no”.

As parents, we must begin to help our children stop this.  Through our own attitudes and behaviors, our children learn that it’s ok to not show kindness and compassion toward people who aren’t like us.  Helping our kids understand they may be the only bright spot in someone’s day can help them understand their own self value also.  Teaching them to reach out and get to know others who may seem strange or different, instead of avoiding and ridiculing them, even just inviting them to sit at the lunch table, can not only help prevent these type tragedies but may lead to new friendships. We as parents must begin teaching our kids to be the friend they want to have, and to understand that no one was created evil, but often shaped by experiences.    Jesus said it this way “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).