Thoughts on Ohio School Shooting

This blog may be premature, for clearly all the facts are not in.  But let me proceed anyway.  There have been varied reports about the shooter whose name has just been released. (So evidently  he is to be tried as an adult.)
    One report says he had been bullied.  What we know for sure was that he was isolated, either by his choosing to be a loner or by being ignored by his peers.  There is no excuse for his murdering three people and injuring countless others.  I am counting emotional injuries here.  But there is a part of me that wonders if a little respect wouldn't have prevented this tragedy.
     When I moved to Alpharetta Ga., I was invited to joined the MLO club.  MLO stood for Milton Liberation Organization.  Milton was the name of the High School.  The MLO club was for outsiders who had moved into the area.  There were alot of us and we stuck together.  The MLO club basically helped me become president of the junior class.  The point is that we were outsiders who found respect and appreciation amongst ourselves.
      We had smokers at Milton High School.  They were another group of outsiders.  During pep rallies they would sit high up in the bleachers when the rest of us would sit by  classes beneath them. They were a class unto themselves. The smokers actually won the spirit stick for being the loudest in the pep rally. The cheerleaders gave them their due. Yes a little respect goes along away.
     I had a classmate at my first high school that was a trouble maker. I was in at least two of his classes.  So I knew he was a trouble maker.  But in earth science he was no bother. The teacher gave him a strange kind of respect.  She would look at him and say "Junior, you are rotten to the core."  Junior would smile. And behave himself, for that class at least.  Yes, a little respect goes along way.
    Now, we don't know the full details of what was going on in Ohio.  But there is no such thing as wasted respect.  If I had children I would try to teach them to respect everyone, even and especially if they don't like them.   When Leo Buscaglia  was chided for loving everyone his come back was "Who should I leave out?"  My question today is who should we leave out of the loop of respect?


In Peace, Love, and Light,
Enoch