Little children have big ears. They have wide eyes. And they are curious.
And, they learn from the world around them.
While the nation struggles to comprehend how it is that a 6-year-old student in Newport News, Va., brought a gun to school and shot his teacher, we should consider on how a child learns. He learns from the teachings of his parents, true, but he also learns from the examples in the world around him. Newport News is not a quiet little town -- not in terms of gun violence. More than 400 out of almost 1,000 incidents of crime in the city in 2021 involved firearms. Prior to the boy shooting his teacher, there were two other incidents of serious gun violence in the schools in the previous 17 months.
People talk; kids listen. We might not know what angles of conversation the 6-year old overheard -- whether any justified gun violence. But, we are safe to assume one thing: When the boy heard about the violence, he could see it was an option in society.
And, it became an option in his life.
Fortunately, the teacher lived. And, it appears the boy might well have wonderful and careful parents who will seek to get him on the right path. He is a child with disabilities, and we know not the struggles he has had that lead him to his terrible act.
But -- as bad at the incident was -- there are thousands of times it plays out worse, thousands of times the child grows up with the attitudes he saw around him as a youth.
. . . Thousands of times the child grows up and kills someone.
Little children have big ears. We should be conscious to the fact that they hear our idle words. They have wide eyes. We should realize when gun violence is before them, they see it -- and it affects them.
Though, sometimes it is years and years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment