Crooked Minds

     A big thing that really affected me was the School Shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky. I have a friend that I used to go to school with that moved to Kentucky, and happens to go to that school. I befriended some of her friends via social media and it was pretty great. I’ll never forget the moment when I first found out about the shooting. It was a snow day from school, so I slept in. I woke up to a text from my friend that said. “Owen I don’t know what to do. Someone is in my school shooting people.” At that point, everything seemed to stop. She and her friends were safe locked in a room away from the shooter. Other people weren’t so lucky and suffered bullet wounds in the chest, head, and limbs. Now this all may have taken place halfway across the country, but it still affected me almost as if it took place in my own town. Knowing someone who was almost a victim of a school shooting is a frightening thing. Nothing in that school will be the same to those students. Nothing will be the same for me, even. It helped me give a new outlook when it comes to gun violence, and also bullying. This shooter was a 15 year old student who had been bullied repeatedly and he finally had enough. He didn’t care who he shot, he just had a hatred for everyone. I can’t imagine what goes through someone’s mind when they undergo an act like this.

Sometimes I wonder about the parents of these children. I’m sure they even wonder about themselves. It must be tough being the parent of a child who committed a crime like that. I’m sure it doesn’t feel good on their part. In a sense, I’m sure they question their parental guidance. It’s probably not an easy thing to deal with. I know personally, I don’t know what I would do with myself. I would be afraid to go out in public and hearing, “Hey, are you the father of that kid who shot up that school?”

  The world we know today is not a very great place. From a kids perspective, it doesn’t seem that bad until a real world problem happens, such as a school shooting, starvation, or even homelessness. Hopefully we can prevent these situations by finding the people that need help and give them help. Let’s help the world, one person at a time. 

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