A tragedy happened near--too near--home today, and it has thrown my blogging schedule off. I'm fine with that. This needs to get out of my system...
Another in a long line of shootings has happened in a middle school today. A thirteen year old boy shot himself. A student found his body, and he was pronounced dead (so the report went) at the hospital.
The first time I heard of this was in the morning, just minutes after it was posted to the Channel 4 website, then exploded into the social post-o-sphere. The report itself was less than fifty words long. You can read it for yourself here. Yet, regardless of the fact that there was no real report in this report, regardless that no profile of the deceased nor evidence of possible bullying or mental illness was reported, there were thousands upon thousands of words filling up the "comments" section. Or--as I like to call it--the compulsory soap box.
I love opinions. They are the best. Opinion is the only reason I do this. But there is a fine line between opinion and being that troll, out to hurt feelings with your "radical" or "I calls it like I sees it" commenting. Just go here (really leave the page for just a minute. Then come back) and see what they say.
Some of it might be spot on. Might be. Until we find out, though, it's just conjecture and flouting.
So, as a side quest in the low budget Odyssey that is this blog, I offer another form of advice. Can it.
A child died this morning past. Another in a long line of kids put under the gun. He will never walk down an aisle again, whether it be to fetch a box of cereal, graduate, go to church, or get married. His father will not get to teach him how to drive. His mother will not sigh as he clumsily attempts to put on his prom date's corsage. Grandparents will bury the reason you have kids--to watch them tortured by their children. Other children have lost another piece of their childhood, and know death--unfair death--far too early in life. One child witnessed something I have never had to endure: the finding of a body.
And yet you go on about "bad parenting" and "I blame bullying" or "it's the guns."
It may be. It may be. But that is neither here nor there. We lost a child today. And that is more pressing than how you feel about parents, guns in America, or the failings of our society. Just be quiet. If you're religious--pray. If you're not--be still and cherish those around you. Send a letter of condolences. Be thankful of what you have. Stop being the troll.
I almost dug into the comments myself. Seeing so much blame and finger pointing. I even wrote up a nice 250 worder. Then I deleted it. The world doesn't need anymore of that kind of compulsion. Not from me. Not from anyone.
A child died today.
That's all from Elliott at the Kitchen Table.
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