Horror and Heartbreak in Uvalde

The peaceful rural Texas town of Uvalde grieves today in the aftermath of a ghoulish  rampage. A teenager ambushed an elementary school, indiscriminately murdering little children.  Tiny kids huddled in terror, savagely gunned down.  Again and again the teenager fired until he was shot dead.

The bloodbath traumatized the close-knit community of 16,000 and stunned Americans.  Schools are becoming killing fields. This year our nation has endured 27 school killings, a deadly record. Unfathomable grief and a lifetime of nightmares left in the violent wake of each carnage.

Every American is posing the same question.  What is wrong with our country?  Answering that requires peering into the soul of our nation. Teenagers, especially young males, are more violent. Troubled.  Often abused.  Disconnected. The term "lone wolf" is used to describe these gunmen.  

After a macabre killing spree, the nation should be united in its resolve to never, ever allow our children to be harmed again.  You can judge a country by how it values its children.  Unfortunately, in gruesome times such as these, Washington erupts into partisan bickering and name-calling.  Shameful. Disgusting.

The knee-jerk reaction is to ban guns. That will stop the killing.  But I grew up in an era where everyone, teenagers included, owned guns in Mississippi.  My high school parking lot was littered with trucks sporting racks of rifles and shotguns. No one feared someone would open fire at students. 

Guns are a handy scapegoat for killings.  But why do so many teenagers use weapons to maim in the first place? Especially a youth who has his whole life ahead.  This may be uncomfortable to hear, but there has been a steady, but precipitous decline in moral values. Life is no longer precious.  

A culture of violence consumes America.  Violence is seething in the mean streets of big cities, on streaming services, in movies, video games, on social media and on the internet. We can't ignore it.  But we do. Impressionable minds become numb to violence and the killing of a human being.

Pervasive evil is dismissed as psychiatric disorder.  Many shooters are clearly mentally ill.  But often after killing sprees, students, parents and teachers admit they spotted odd or rebellious behavior.  But no one acts on their instinct to take action.  It's too late after the fact. Why did they wait?

Why don't students tell adults about disturbed classmates? They don't want to be called snitches.  They are afraid of being bullied, reprimanded by a teacher or being confronted by parents demanding to know why their child is being questioned.  We have to make it comfortable for kids to say what they see.

In the Uvalde tragedy, the killer allegedly sent inappropriate texts to girls. Teen girls whispered about his threats to harm them. A few residents said the killer was bullied because of a stutter with a lisp. At one point, the Washington Post reported, the youth cut his own face with a knife for fun.

No one informed police of his behavior. Unfortunately, the incessant demonizing of police in the culture has caused a growing hostility toward law enforcement. Even in a tight knit community, people are afraid to tell police. Americans don't want to get involved. This needs to change immediately. 

This evil that stalks our nation is disguised as aberrant behavior.  Just kids acting up. However, there are deep mental health issues afflicting young people. Drug use among teenagers is rising. Suicides are spiking. Acts of self harm are escalating.  When will we address these issues? How long will it take?

In every single school massacre, the killer leaves a trail on social media.  The Uvalde murderer posted on Facebook he was going to shoot his grandmother.  He shot her in the face and then bragged online. Later, he posted he was about to open fire at a school. Facebook failed to alert authorities.

Social media is the sewer that enables evil.  Facebook's vaunted algorithms are supposed to ferret out threats of violence.  In virtually every school massacre, the killer wants attention. They act out online and then murder the defenseless.  It is a pattern.  Police know it. So does Facebook. 

The killer, I refuse to mention his name, also posted a picture on Instagram of an AR (Assault Rifle) and a backpack full of ammunition. He put up videos on the social media platform screaming at his mother and cursing her as she tried to kick him out of the house. Police were not notified.

When is the nation going to hold social media companies criminally responsible for their irresponsible business practices?  Facebook owns Instagram.  Facebook's PR executive dodged any responsibility. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is hiding from the media.  They value profit over young lives.

You will hear many solutions from Washington.  Most of them won't do anything to solve the real problems.  Our society has too many broken homes.  Too many single parent households.  Too many abused children.  Too many negligent parents.  Ignoring these problems ensures future slaughter.

Often police or armed school guards are the last line of defense against an armed invasion of a school.  In Uvalde, an ongoing investigation reveals police did not immediately rush the shooter.  A back entry to the school was carelessly left ajar.  Police and the school need to be held accountable.  

There are no quick fixes.  Protecting our school children is the top priority.  Schools are soft targets for evil.  Governments should provide funding to harden every school. There needs to be a single entry with double doors and cameras. Armed guards on premises.  Is that too much to ask?

Mental health services need to be beefed up in communities and schools.  Employing a school counselor is not a solution.  Our children are left under the protection of teachers and administrators who often fail to notice or remain reluctant to report red-flag mental issues. They must be empowered to act.

Parents must inspect what they expect at school.  They need to be involved in every aspect of their children's education, including school safety.  Regular contact with teachers and counselors might help parents learn about a child's behavioral problems at school. Parents must make the time to do it.

After a tragedy, our nation has a history of praying, weeping and demanding results for a few weeks.  Then leaders move on to another crisis before solving the most important job America has: protecting its children.  If we cannot guarantee our children's safety, then we don't value God's most precious gift. 

Too Many Suicides, Too Few Answers

Suicides involving high profile celebrities shock Americans and spur an outpouring of sympathy.  However, after a few news cycles, public interest wanes and heartbreak fades.  That is a tragedy considering the alarming increase in suicides in this country and worldwide.

From 1999 to 2016, the suicide rate in the United States rose 28 percent.  There were twice as many suicides (44,965) in 2016 as there were homicides (19,362) in the country.  Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people between the ages of 10 and 36.

Those statistics were reported by the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention (AFFSP), which estimates the costs of suicide at $69 billion annually in medical expenses and lost wages.  Firearms were used in more than half (22,963) of the reported suicides. 

Worldwide more than 600,000 people committed suicide in 2015, confirms the latest data from the World Health Organization.  The United States ranks 48th in the world, eclipsed by countries such as Sir Lanka, Guyana and Mongolia, where the suicide rates are three times higher than our nation.

For every suicide, 25 Americans attempt to end their lives, reports the AFFSP.  Research shows that for every reported suicide death about 11.4 people visit a hospital for self-harm injuries.  The data does not distinguish between intentional and non-intentional injuries, weakening the linkage.  

All this disturbing evidence sheds light on a subject that for too long has been taboo.  Unfortunately,  the stigma attached to suicide often obfuscates the publicly available information.  As a result, unscientific beliefs replace facts which undermines an intelligent national discussion on prevention.  

For instance, most people who kill themselves are not mentally deranged in the clinical sense.  We tend to believe that, however, because seemingly well adjusted people are not supposed to end their lives.  But the scientific data and research do not support that commonly held belief.

Based on data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, one-third of suicide victims tested positive for alcohol.  In 24 percent of the cases, an antidepressant was discovered during the autopsy.  One-fourth (20 percent) tested positive for opiates, including heroin and pain killers. 

Those statistics, distributed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),  indicate that mental health issues may have contributed to the usage of drugs, pain killers and alcohol.  But there is no evidence that suicides are the work of primarily mentally ill people.

Another oft repeated misconception is that most suicides could be prevented if an adult or mental health professional would have intervened.  A recent study reported in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety found most (54%) emergency room doctors said "few" suicides could have been prevented.

Research by the American Association of Suicidology (sic) found than less than 10 minutes pass between a the average person's decision to commit suicide and the actual attempt.  In those precious minutes, the overwhelming impulse to take your own life outweighs common sense and logic.

Depression has been found to be one of the top risk factors for suicide.  But it is just one cause on a long list of contributing influences.  Other markers include substance abuse, a family history of suicide, being a bullying victim, eating disorders, incarceration, hopelessness and low job security.

There far too many other factors to innumerate.  That's one of the obstacles to preventing suicide.  It is nearly impossible to know what precisely triggers each suicide.  If you cannot predict the underlying cause in advance, how do you stop a person from committing suicide?

Health experts always suggest people look for warning signs that someone may attempt suicide.  But no one can see what a person is feeling inside.  While the professionals admit that, they persist in telling people to look for signs of anxiousness, agitation, changes in eating habits, hopelessness.

Sadly, the list of warning signs is just as lengthly as the risk factors, which means no one can pinpoint a single influence with absolute confidence.  It shouldn't deter people helping others. But the truth is Americans need better tools to recognize the symptoms of suicidal behavior.

Promising research has been launched in recent years to discover if there is a gene marker for suicide.  That would help identify high-risk individuals.  However, we remain years perhaps even decades away from learning if there indeed is a gene or perhaps a gene mutation linked to suicide.

Some health officials point to the rising rates of depression, anxiety and anger to explain the hike in suicides. But few have answers to the most critical question: "Why is this increase happening?" Without more scientific evidence, physicians and patients are left to try to cope the best they can.

In the absence of more actionable research, suffering will continue for those left behind by the suicide of a friend, relative or loved one.  These innocent bystanders experience guilt, remorse and a stinging sense of loss.  There is nothing worse in life.  Their pain is a cry for answers to prevent suicide.