Activism

Good morning and welcome to Thursday Thoughts. All month, we’re focusing on teens and the trials they face as they move toward being adults. Today, it’s all about school violence and exactly what everyone can do to curtail school violence.
Following one of the more recent incidents of school violence, students have taken to activism in order to get their message across about what they want. Some adults have conceded that these students are right, because nothing they’ve done has made a difference. After viewing the interviews of these students and their unwillingness to listen to differing points of view, one has to wonder if their method will really work.
This country has a history of activism when people are dissatisfied with how things are working. Sometimes it works, but in recent years this type of activism has included illegal acts that turns away those who might support the protestors. This is especially true when it comes to solving the problem of school violence.
Before I’m slaughtered for mentioning that most of these protests are illegal, might I point out that the First Amendment of the Constitution gives us the right to peaceful protest. Notice the emphasis on the word peaceful. It seems to have been lost when certain groups are protesting. What this means is that you may protest what you think is wrong, but the moment you commit a criminal act, including littering as you dump your signs on the ground on your way out of town, you are no longer constitutionally protected. You have, in essence, become a criminal.
Now, to delve into some other information. Comparing the number of acts of school violence, and this is information only for school shootings, between the current president and his predecessor—a fact that has been misrepresented by the news media quite frequently—the average number of school shootings under our current president is 15.5 per year. In comparison, his predecessor’s term of eight years had an average of 37.5 school shootings. (Let me say now that I spent 11 years in the Air Force analyzing aircraft maintenance, so I’m a statistics freak!)
Now that we have the facts down straight, I am going to say unequivocally that I am not for, nor will I ever be for, a single solution to this problem. This is an issue that has many reasons behind why it happens and will take far more solutions to stop eventually.
With all this information in mind, I’m sure more than a few people are thinking we need to have more gun laws. We most certainly do not. There are so many gun laws on the books now that many overlap others. What we need is better enforcement of those laws. The way to go about that isn’t going on television and talking about your agenda but shouting down anyone who disagrees with you. All that does is turn people away from what you’re trying to say.
Yes, I agree that teens need to be involved in effecting change so that this problem is somehow resolved. In order to do that, we need to look at everything that brings about these incidents. We can’t just label all offenders as having a mental health problem, dump them into an institution, and move forward. That hasn’t solved the problem, as can be seen by the number of school shooters there are. We need to look at all elements of how this happened, which will mean stepping back and viewing everything about the accused and why they felt they had to take this step to be heard.


About K.C. Sprayberry
Living a dream she’s had since she first discovered the magic of books. K.C. Sprayberry traveled the U.S. and Europe before finally settling in the mountains of Northwest Georgia. She’s been married to her soulmate for nearly a quarter of a century and they enjoy spoiling their grandchildren along with many other activities.
A multi-genre author, K.C. Sprayberry is always on the hunt for new stories. Inspiration strikes at the weirdest times and drives her to grab notebook and pen to jot down her ideas. Those close to her swear nothing or no one is safe if she’s smiling gently in a corner and watching those in the same room interact. Her observations have often given her ideas for her next story, set not only in the South but wherever the characters demand they settle.

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