My hands are shaking as I write this. I am so infuriated, disgusted, heart-broken… another 27 people dead for absolutely no reason, 20 of them children. What is it going to take? When are we going to WAKE UP! and properly initiate and mentor our teens?
Why might a 20 year old man do something like this? I know nothing about this young man yet I’ll venture an explanation. It might be the same reason why Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, killed 13 people and themselves at Columbine high school, the same reason why Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, killed five people in a Jonesboro, Arkansas school, why “Kip” Kinkel killed his parents and two students at Thurston High School in Springfield, OR… To prove to the world they are men.
What?! Why would anyone do something so heinous, so bloodthirsty and stupid just to prove he’s a man? Because his community offers him few to none other meaningful ways to do it.
Please check out our brand new short film about at risk youth: RITES OF PASSAGE: MENTORING THE FUTURE