A Not so Brave New World

Last night was a rather somber evening following the day’s events at Virginia Tech.

My sons and I had a discussion about the happenings at Virginia Tech and they wanted my explanation to why someone would do that? I told them there are just some confused people in the world who are just plain evil.

My 17 year old had an experience last year with another student making threats in his theater class at the high school. I recall my son coming home and telling me about this really strange kid in his drama class. When my son initially told me how everyone avoided this kid because he was really weird, I was sad and suggested to my son, perhaps he just needed some friends. My son only looked at me with that look and said “no, mom, I mean he’s really a freak. Then he told me how he dressed, always in black and he wore a mask to school. He refused to take the mask off when the teachers would ask him to. My son said he eventually talked to him occasionally over the weeks during the class.

About a month after the start of the semester, my son came home and told me that during class, this strange kid had whispered to him that he was going to come back to school and kill everyone. I told my son immediately to go to the office and report what the kid had said to him. He told me that he didn’t want to, because the kid would know it was him, and plus, my son didn’t’ think he was serious. I told him that he couldn’t make that determination, and regardless what he thought about the truthfulness or not, he needed to report it, period. Now reflecting back – I should have done it myself. My son, went to the office the next day and talked with his counselor and informed them. My son was treated more like a “tat o’teller”, than someone who may have helped prevent a future catastrophe, and his worst fears were realized. My son told me for the first time last night that this kid had approached him later on in school (nothing ever resulted from his threat) and said to my son “I know you were the one who told”.

This kid no longer attends the high school this year.

As I reflect back on that event, I know I would handle it differently now. I would have called up the school immediately, rather than leave it up to my son, and perhaps putting him in danger from recourse. However, it is so hard, to get anyone to take this sort of threat seriously, until after some tragedy unfolds. Whenever something seems so extraordinary, it is hard for people to listen and to believe. America has for such a long time, been viewed as a safe and secure place to live, but we are slowly evolving into a society that is accepting of more and more violence in our media, and entertainment, and as such our children are paying a price and that price could very well be their own lives.