Seems to me that today's children are not taught how to deal with rejection, loss (e.g., not keeping score in sports) or death. They also are not taught that bad acts - theirs or anyone else's - have consequences. Parents don't punish because Junior won't "like" them if they take away his iPhone or some other toy. Parents are too busy trying to be a pal to their offspring. Schools can't punish because parents will file lawsuits.
Mr. M and I were talking about this on the drive home from vacation yesterday. Children really seem dumbfounded by the notion that there are consequences to their actions. I observed that they can't learn self-discipline if they never were disciplined by a parent (not just punishment for bad acts, but things like doing chores, getting up in time for school, etc.).
There is a template now, that this kids follow, and it isn't good.
Think of a riot mentality.
You'd never break that store front window, unless someone else does it.
Maybe you hold out until the 10th or 100th does it, then, it's no big deal.
Everyone is doing it.
The clearest thing we have to a motive is that a girl rejected his advances.
This should not be an issue, but it became one for the shooter.
Now, these kids are killing over a
perceived wrongs.
They can
imagine that they are being wronged, or just make it up.
Now, having several examples of violence to choose from, they seek their revenge, whether the "wrong" was real or not.
Frightening.
How do we fix this?