There's been a lot of talk this week about the arrest of a University of Maryland student who threatened to go on a "shooting rampage." Alexander Song allegedly told folks on Reddit that he was going to do something so big and bad that it would make national news. He didn't get there, but that's news too. And I daresay it's news that we all needed to hear.
Because what happened in Maryland this week is proof that there are still good people in this world. Song's arrest after police were alerted to the scary online postings sends a message that speaking up makes a difference. These things can be stopped!
Thank.
God.
I don't mean to make light of such a serious threat, folks. I'm just glad I have a positive story to share with you today. Because I don't have to remind you that all too often, it goes the other way.
Each time a shooting takes place on a school campus -- be it public or private, elementary or college -- it feels like we lose another piece of our humanity. Even at the college level, the victims are generally kids, our kids. And more times than not, so are the perpetrators. And it's all done on purpose!
Even in war that doesn't happen ... or at least it isn't supposed to. Kids are supposed to be off limits. If a country actually follows the Geneva Convention, children are protected from deliberate acts of violence.
These school shootings defy our sensibilities of who we, the human race, prioritize. And they paint a troubling picture of our future, a future where angry young people are growing up thinking their best option to work out their feelings is by taking a gun to innocent people. It's kind of hard to put a smile on your face and just keep swimming along the river of life when you feel like the darkness is trying to drag you under.
But this week in Maryland, humanity won. A tragedy may well have been averted in Maryland with Song's arrest. And we don't have to do what we have so many times before -- mourn lives cut short too soon.
Check out more on this scary story and tell us, what goes through your head when you hear about school shootings on the news?
Maryland Student Arrested for Shooting Rampage Threat