Gun Control & Mental Health in America: Speak Up, Speak Out (It's Not Just a Lesson for Our Kids) Opinion Headlines
Over the coming days, there are going to be many discussions about gun control and mental health in America. Both are hot topics that warrant our interest, debates, arguments. When a shooter opened fire at a school in Florida, many people talked about his history of disciplinary problems. Many others talked about his history with guns. Others spoke of his hearing voices telling him to carry the massacre out. What do all of these things have in common? People knew.
No, they didn't know the how's or the when's. The why's. But they knew. His neighbors. His friends. Classmates. No one was surprised that this tragedy happened. One person notified the FBI that a person with the exact same name as the now mass murderer said that he was going to be famous for school shootings. The FBI now states they didn't know who the suspect was so they couldn't have done anything. They had his name? How is this possible? But, I digress.
That person had the right idea. Not only do we need to teach our kids to speak out about bullying, wrongdoing, violence, feelings; we need to do a better job of listening to them and believing them. We need to follow through. We need to act and react. Your children need to feel comfortable coming to you and you, in turn, must follow through. For them.
Speak up. Speak out. If no ones listens, find someone else who will. Your children are counting on you and so are we.