By Roger Bluhm 

Here we go again. Thursday morning reports started filtering in to newsrooms of another school shooting, this one in Tennessee. According to reports from the Associated Press, a student was killed in the cafeteria of a Knoxville high school after an altercation. The shooter pulled a gun from his backpack, shot the other young man and casually walked away. He was arrested a short time later on a street near the school. I’ve come to the conclusion that prevention methods at schools aren’t the answer to school violence. Schools these days have police officers on site, metal detectors at entrances and plans in place for locking down schools when violence erupts. The problem is, there are ways around everything. Teens figure these things out and continue to shoot, stab, fight each other around the country. Now, I know I live in North Dakota. I know that violence at this level, thank God, hasn’t happened here. But, I don’t think they believed school shootings could happen in Paducah, Ky., or Columbine High School near Littleton, Colo. There was also a school shooting in Jonesboro, Ark., and another in Cazenovia, Wis. I guess what I’m trying to point out is that, like most acts of violence, one can’t predict it will happen. We don’t know what will anger someone, what will be the final straw that broke the camel’s back and made the shooter “snap” and start firing. Because we don’t know, we can’t ever allow ourselves to say something will never happen here. Before anyone suggests I’m being an alarmist, I’m not. I guess I’m just encouraging parents to do what they’ve always done – talk to your children, listen to them, understand when something’s wrong, know their friends, their schedules, the adults they associate with at the school. Generally just be a part of their lives and encourage them to do the right things. That includes walking away from confrontations. Maybe it’s video games or movies or music videos that make children believe that shooting, stabbing or hitting someone is OK. Maybe it’s not. But, if we instill in our children that walking away from a fight, or informing an adult on a situation is preferable to someone getting hurt, than our children will know the right thing to do. I had my share of fights when I was growing up. I had my share of yelling matches with teens I didn’t along with. Things are different, however. It used to be the best way to handle a bully was to confront the bully. Maybe it would need to come to a fight, maybe it wouldn’t. Somewhere, somehow, some teens started targeting classmates as the people they would murder when they snapped. For some, it was just fantasy, but for others, it became real. How often have we heard that the shooter was bullied and finally took matters into his own hands? Yes, children can often be cruel to one another, but nothing, NOTHING, justifies violence. As parents, clergy, teachers, police officers, shop owners and farmers, we need to make sure that Career Day at school should not only talk about what we do for a living, but perhaps encourage the children to make sure they live long enough to have a career after their school years are complete. Violence solves nothing. I pray every day that my children learn this and that nothing happens near them. An outbreak of violence is as sudden as a car crash. It’s terrifying enough that my daughters are getting to be driving age. I don’t want to have to worry about other things as well. I don’t believe it will ever happen here, in our area, even in North Dakota. I pray it won’t, I don’t believe it will, but I also make sure my children understand to walk away, tell a teacher, tell ME, just don’t get caught up in any violence. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the young man in Knoxville – as well as those in Paducah, Littleton, Jonesboro, Cazenovia and the other locations I didn’t mention. I also pray that no more communities will be added to the list. Roger Bluhm is publisher of the Times-Record.