In the last couple of weeks, there have been multiple shootings.
There was the shooting at Umpqua Community College, Ore. At Northern Arizona University, there was a recent shooting. Also at Texas Southern University, there was a shooting.
I think the most devastating shooting was when an 11-yearold boy shot an eight-yearold girl over an argument on puppies in Tennessee.
In Oregon, right after the shooting happened, the sheriff refused to give out the shooter’s name, which I was very thankful for.
By releasing the shooter’s name, you are giving them 15 minutes of fame. Their name is blasted all over the web, print and broadcast media. People will go to the shooter’s Facebook page to figure out who this person is and why he or she decided to commit the shooting.
An example of this would be when the shooter shot the people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. People went to his Facebook page and saw him with a confederate flag. The photo of the shooter with the flag made the incident more of a hate crime against African-Americans and gave the confederate flag an even worse image.
These people that committed shootings, at a public place or at a neighbor’s house, we should try to figure why they did it. If they are mentally ill, we can learn to spend more time loving and helping people with mental issues. We should not push them aside because they are different from the rest.
If they grew up in a bad home environment, we should help them seek professional help. It is hard to think of the shooters as people who deserve our love and care.
At some point in their life, they were children who were bullied because they were a little autistic or did not have clean clothes because of how bad their home life was. I think the reason some of these shooters targeted Christians was because we did not show love and support when they needed it. We never offered to listen to them when they needed someone. We were quick to judge and slow to listen to their stories.
The reason I never mentioned their names in my article is because I do not want them to get any more recognition than they deserve. I just hope that next time you see a person that is a little bit different, you do not just walk past them when they ask for your help. Take the time to listen to someone’s story instead of judging that individual, whom you don’t even know.
If we, as a community start doing this, then maybe we will have a chance to be the change we want to see. Our school is not huge, but if we start to change how we interact with people it will carry on throughout our whole lives. We have a chance to be a great influence to younger generations on how to treat people.
Chapin is a sophomore majoring in communication and political science. He can be reached at ChapinM@jbu.edu.