I avoid posting about things like the killings at NIU or Virginia Tech because I don’t believe I have anything to add other than my sympathies, which I believe is shared with the rest of the nation.

I can’t help but wonder, as I have since Columbine, how we have contributed to the outward displays of violence toward others.  I have urged that we remove the incentive for infamy by  not disclosing the identities of shooters.  I have questioned the mainstream acceptance of pain as humor.  It’s not that I presume to have any answers.  It’s just that we need to find a way to stop this from happening, not be mourning the aftermath or finding stop-gap treatments for the symptoms, but by curing the disease.

No child should die.  No child should suffer.  To the extent we can stop it, this is imperative.  We need to spend more time figuring out why this is happening, truly understanding the problem, so that we can do something to stop it.  We need to put an end to sensationalizing it as if it’s another form of melodramatic entertainment.  Let us make the effort to find out how to help these young people so that this never happens again.