Random Musings

What in the world....

In a span of thirty days or so, there have been at least four publicized cases of kids killing their parents and siblings. Here in Georgia, an 18 year old adopted son killed his mother and father, and the other day, a 17 year old son killed his mother and two younger sisters. In Maryland, a 15 year old Boy Scout killed his parents and two younger brothers, and yesterday in Texas, a 16 year old female and three of her friends participated in the slayings of her mother, and two brothers. Her father was also attacked, it is assumed with the same intention to kill, but he managed to survive and drag himself to a neighbor for help.

What in the world is going on with the kids these days? What are we doing wrong? Is it the violent video games, and other media? Lax parenting? Societal influence? Peer pressure?

People in general seem to have way fewer coping skills than they used to. Nowadays, somebody gets pissed off, and instead of taking the time to consider if a response is even worth it, they cuss people out, run them off the road, start a fist fight, whip out a knife or a gun to cut or shoot the offending party, or otherwise try to belittle or eliminate the object of their rage. With kids, it's worse because the impulse control and reasoning that is supposed to come with maturation has not yet developed. But even at that, one has to wonder how we have gotten to the place we seem to be, where kids are killing to vent their frustrations or act out their aggressions.

What was once thought of as normal teen angst, has now come to be a reason for sleeping with one eye open and a hand on your own gun. Kids are wiping out their entire families over disagreements with a parent, being told their "love interest" is off-limits, sibling rivalry, or hearing the word, "No" one time too many. In some cases, there doesn't appear to be a reason at all; it just happened, nobody saw it coming.

In recent years, there have been several school and university shootings. Students and instructors were ambushed, injured and killed. Then the perpetrator killed himself, leaving behind only speculation as to the reason for such an atrocity committed against people who, in most cases, hadn't done anything to them on a personal level.

It's a frightening phenomenon. Just today, a man walked into a fast food restaurant and shot it up, injuring several people, killing a man and then taking his own life. In Memphis, they just found six people shot to death in a house, several of them children. What has changed over the years to make people so devoid of conscience and so volatile in their actions?

What is happening to our kids?

I’m tired, and it's late. My head is swimming from thinking about all of this. Maybe I’ll add more to this tomorrow.