This is just another event that is so depressing. I grew up in a small town in Indiana and our schools had there fair share of kids who struggled with emotional and/or mental issues. We had bullying, parents that were abusive, drugs/alcohol, access to guns, etc. Geez, during 6th grade camp, the fire department had to come get one of the kids out of a tree because he was barking like a dog and wouldn’t come down. Later on in high school, the same kid was in my driver’s education car…….a bit scary on I-65. My junior and senior year we had an unusual number of suicides as well as student deaths for other reasons. Some of the suicides were using firearms (shotguns, mostly).
People had problems, just like they do now. What we didn’t have was the internet, we didn’t have cellphones and we didn’t even have computers (I graduated HS in 1980). You were influenced by your peers, your family and to some extent what you saw on TV or heard in music. Remember when heavy metal was the culprit (talking to you Tipper)? Now folks that have emotional and/or mental issues have the same influences but also adding in social media, everything on the internet and constant communication (good and bad). It’s a lot for people to process cleanly, especially those who cannot process clearly. The internet, etc. are great tools but they are also having a negative influence on many of our people, including growing minds. It’s a tough problem to crack and I’m afraid it’s just going to get worse.