The Three Rs
The recent spate of school shootings -like the many that preceded it- is not so much a statement of the mental health of our children, as it is a statement of the moral health of our nation.
There used to be a time when problems were solved differently. If the schoolyard bully stole your lunch; or some jerk wolf-whistled at your wife or stole your parking space, you went out back and the two of you pummeled each other until somebody won. Black eyes were a right of passage. When it was over, the winner said his piece, picked the loser up off the ground and the two went their separate ways. This way of resolving conflict was imprinted on me in my childhood. It is how my brothers and I solved our problems, often times with each other. It is how my father solved his problems, indeed how society solved its problems, once reason and civility failed.
In today’s world, the loser of the fight files assault charges or sues you for all you’re worth; Or he goes home, grabs his gun or steals his father’s and takes care of his problem by putting a bullet in the winner’s head.
In today’s world, people act more enlightened. They look at the use of violence of any sort to solve problems - whether it be a schoolyard brawl or outright war- with upturned noses, as if only subhumans defended themselves. Think zero-tolerance. They reality is, the world doesn’t work that way. You can’t outlaw conflict. The world is replete with conflict. And contrasts. Rich vs. Poor. Strong vs. Weak. Good vs. Evil. Right vs. Wrong.
As human beings, we must constantly seek to achieve some sort of equilibrium; some sense of balance with these contrasts and understand that sometimes it’s necessary to engage in violence in order to achieve peace or to confront evil.
What political correctness does is seek to upset that sense of balance. Its proponents believe that it would create a more polite society, but the reality is the exact opposite. In today’s PC society, if someone would call out that bully or parking space thief to settle the score, they would either be expelled from school, shot, sued or put in jail. Therefore, they swallow their pride like 50 pounds of concrete and try to forget about it.
So what we’re left with is a nation of people with a profound feeling that there is no justice and it makes them angry. They try to ignore these feelings, but they simmer on - much like a pot of water. Left unattended, they boil over. This is what occurs regularly in these school shootings. In the Amish murders -by his own admission- the killer had been holding on to his grudge for 20 years.
But that incident is atypical of the pattern of school shooters. The vast majority of school shootings are carried out by students of the schools themselves, and most shooters admit to being bullied. Unable to escape, they decide to exact justice, taking as many of those they perceive as their tormentors with them.
The three R’s used to mean Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and ‘Rithmetic. Our schools used to be places that were safe from predators and murderers. Now the three R’s mean Rejection, Retaliation, and Revenge.
It’s no coincidence that mass-murder in our nation’s schools became commonplace at the same time political correctness began its insidious infection of our minds, which continues to this day. Men have engaged in battle over insults to their honor for centuries. Medieval knights; duels; wild west gunfights. All had deadly outcomes, but those who participated did so to restore a measure of justice.
It is the height of arrogance for liberals to think they can socially engineer an end to all violence. In the end, it just backfires and has the opposite effect. With no outlet for seeking justice against society’s bullies and ill equipped by their parents for handling conflict in a constructive fashion, these ticking time-bombs will continue to go off in our nation’s schools.
