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You know, my mom has said several times over the past few years that she is actually scared that I am a teacher... literally frightened that I go to school every day and have direct contact with hundreds of students... some my own, some that I never taught and never will.

After I signed up to teach at cyber school, she was extremely relieved.


I, on the other hand, feel at somewhat of a loss.



At least if I was there, I could do something, right?
I have come across tons of "crazy" kids in my short time teaching...

I have lived to tell the tales.



But it IS something that lurks in the back of my mind - what if?



This year, I have quite a few students who are really odd... odd enough to actually scare me. But what can you do aside from trying to reach out to them? Passing them along to guidance? Encouraging them???

And if you do that, does it put you more at risk?


Who is a kid going to kill - someone they know, or someone they have never met?


I guess you just don't know, but I think it is really important to point out that this is not, by any means, an epidemic... this does NOT happen all the time... it is an anomoly... and although people should have plans in place to deal with these kinds of things... you simply just do not know when someone is going to fly off the handle.

You also do not know if a kid is going to be really angry at someone else and take other people down with them.


Sure, parents, teachers, and friends need to watch out for other people... know the signs... try to get people help if they are worried about them... but in the end, you do the best that you can do, and there will still be incidents like this. If someone is really hell-bent on destruction, I honestly feel like there is not a ton you can do to stop from doing it... you just gotta have some way of stopping them once they start.


As my mom and I were watching the newscasts, she kept asking Why? Why are kids killing each other? Why are things the way they are?


There are so many reasons!

Lack of love, of contact, of close family relationships, close friends...
Lack of support, of confidence...
Overabundance of media, pressure, stress, goals...


Too many drugs, too few hugs? I don't know.




I do not think that there is an answer. Today I was talking to my students about depression... they all honestly and sincerely felt that the key to alleviating all of this is for parents to spend more time with their kids. They felt like people should not take anti depressants... they should go to counseling... they should talk to their friends and family.

Ahh my dear sweet 15 yr olds.

What I proposed to them was, How do you do it?! How do you do it when oftentimes both parents need to work and when they are finished work they are exhausted and unable to spend time with their kids? How do you do it when people are so sensitive and every person who feels a little bit sad once in awhile can get a rx for paxil or zoloft? How do you do it when kids are isolated and spend all of their time on the computer, watching tv, or playing video games??

I asked them how to change the world.



They did not have an answer... but the fact that they know that family and friends and love can make a difference gives me hope... and I hope that in their generation, they make the time... that they make it happen.


There will always be people with problems... there will always be people who go to extremes to "fix" those problems... But hopefully as the world realizes how deficit we are in personal relationships and priorities that MATTER... maybe things will change.

Maybe not soon enough.